


Jane Doe

by OrchidPeach560 (Miss_Webb)



Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama & Romance, Drawing, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Kissing, Memory Loss, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rated for future chapters, Season/Series 02, Sex, Traveling, Vaginal Sex, Violence, bad with tags, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 01:57:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11590605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Webb/pseuds/OrchidPeach560
Summary: At twelve you were found walking the streets covered in blood, but it wasn't yours. After being taken to the hospital and then to social services you were placed in the foster system, because you had no memory of who you are or where you are from. You were given the name Jane Doe, it was supposed to be temporary until you remembered your name, but it never came. You turn eighteen six years later and hightail your ass out of there, with one goal, find your birth-parents and figure out just who you are.  Your search leads you to New Orleans. It's there you meet a tall handsome man, dressed in a suit. Your life is never the same after that.





	1. New Orleans

Jane had traveled back to where she was originally found. It was some no-name town in Texas, she was said to have been covered in blood. Which meant she had to have been in some kind of police report. Blood doesn’t just come from nowhere. So that’s the first place she headed when she left Westville orphanage for girls. She’s had the same job since she was 14, working at the library down the street. Mrs. Fran was fond of Jane. They’d hit it off as soon as they met, the library had been Jane’s solitude from all the girls there. Some were kind, others weren’t. Then there were the weird troubled ones that she didn’t socialize with.

So fifty bucks a week, since she was 14 all saved up to her van. She named him Eli. Eli was the current love of her life. He was a sleek grey, with tinted windows on the passenger doors and the back. Perfect for a life on the road, a portable, cheap home. Well, at least the incognito way. It’s illegal to sleep in your car in most places. But Jane wasn’t going to let that stop her.

Before she left, she went over to the library and gave Mrs. Fran the biggest hug she could muster and cried a little when Mrs. Fran told her that if her parents weren’t around, or if she didn’t even like them, that she always had a home with her.

Mrs. Fran had even given her a box of books, to take home and start her huge collection. It was one of the only things Jane had told everyone about her dream home for when she got older and married. She wanted a room, where one wall was a gigantic bookshelf. Filled to the brim with all of Jane’s favorite books. Of course, at the moment Jane only had about three favorite books, but she intended to add to that list.

So she put the books in the car along with her other belongings. About four pairs of black leggings, two pairs of jeans, three pairs of shoes. One pair of black heels, One pair of sneakers, and one pair of flats. Three tank tops, four t-shirts, and four dress shirts. An unknown amount of socks and underwear. Her three sketchbooks, and art supplies, from pencils to paint. That was all her belongings besides, the twin mattress that fit in the back of the van, and the sheet, blanket, and pillow.

She got all her things in order and left.

_

Eleven hours later, she was finally in Texas. Her first and only stop was the police department. She spoke with the chief, Eddie Ralph.

She’d been waiting for twenty minutes for him when he came into the station.

“Are you Jane Doe?” He asked she looked up from the picture she’d began drawing and closed it.

“Yeah, that’s me. Are you the Chief? Mr. Ralph?”

“Yes, but everyone calls me Ed, come into my office. We can talk there.” She put her sketchbook in her bag and walked to his office. They both sat down and began talking.

“So as I understand it, you are here to talk about a case?”

“Uh yes. It’s from six or seven years ago. A girl was walking in the street covered in blood? I just wanted to know what you found out about her and everything.”

He sighed looking at her, and then opened his computer and did some typing. It was a few minutes of silence. As he read something, there was this sad look in his eyes. He closed his computer and leaned forward onto the desk closer to her.

“You are this little girl? Right?”

Jane nods, getting worried about what he’s found.

“Well, I am sorry to report, we haven’t found anything. This case has been cold for many years. We have few blood samples, pictures of her, everything else we have is speculation.”

“I still want to know, even the speculation. Anything might be able to help me.”

He sits back and sighs.

“Okay, fine. What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

_

Jane left the station an hour later. With a copy of the entire case file in hand. It’s only twelve pages. But it’s twelve more pages about herself than she had before. She even knows her blood type now. She didn’t know that before, and now having it, she realizes how much it means to her to have something else about herself.

She even has a new destination. New Orleans, five hours away. She was heading straight there. Right after she got some gas because it was actually pretty low. The whole ride there she felt worried, like a ball of nerves. She was scared of what she was going to find. What if something horrible had happened? With the fact’s she now had, it was clear something bad happened. But what if it was like very bad.

“ _You may not remember this… but you were found, drenched in blood. It wasn’t yours, but it was a lot. We took it to get tested, it was from someone who had the same blood type as you. We can’t really get DNA from blood, so we don’t know if they were related to you, but that’s our guess.” Ed paused. “The thing is, you had so much of the same blood on you. Whoever it was from, was no doubt dead. A person on average has a little less than two gallons of blood. You had so much on you, and there was the fact that it’d completely dried on your skin and clothes when you were found.”_

Jane was worried about that. What if someone had died on her or something? What if it was one of her parents? Maybe a brother or sister. Someone she really loved, completely bled out on her? That sounds traumatic alone.

_“You didn’t know anything at that moment, about yourself or what happened. We couldn’t identify where you even came from. The blood all over you wasn’t yours. But you were hurt. You were covered in scars, pink and sore as if they’d recently healed. Not to mention your feet. They were cut up and worn, even in your shoes. Doctors suspected you’d been walking for hours before anyone got you. Which meant you could have come from anywhere.”_

Jane’s skin showed now permeant scars. Not any that she could see. They had all healed up by now. But there were pictures in the file. Of her skin, feet, and clothes. It made her worried. What if she was abused? What if she had like killed someone and then ran away, and it was so bad she forgot about it all. There were no signs of head trauma or anything that suggested why she forgot everything. So it had to all have been something her mind did, possibly for her own good. It made her wonder if going down memory lane was a good idea. But even that fear wasn’t enough to make her stop. She had been waiting six years for answers. Good or bad. She was going to find out who she was.

She looked at google maps once again on her phone. One hour left before she reached New Orleans. Turning back now would simply be a waste of gas. She cares about the earth too much to chicken out now anyway.

_

_“We only had one hint to where you might have come from.” Ed gets up, opening his keys and leaving the room, coming back a little while later with a yellow envelope. It was a necklace, one oval shaped, one side of hit had a Fleur de Lis, painted on the front of it, there was a latch on the side when you clicked it, it opened and there was a picture on the inside. A man and woman, it looked like they were outside, sitting, the woman in front of the man, they were both smiling. Both Jane’s skin tone, but they looked like they were outside more often, both more tanned. The woman wore her hair just like Jane wore hers. On the back in tiny writing said, “NEW ORLEANS”_

_“Based on your feet, the fact that the blood was dry, and how dehydrated you were, the doctors said it was possible you could have walked from there. Like I said, it’s all speculation. I personally doubt that you walked that far, but there is no proof for either cause.”_

Once Jane was in New Orleans, she was unsure what to do. All she had was a picture of her possible parents. Besides she had no idea how old the picture was. Maybe it was like 30 years old from when they started dating. They might not have even lived in New Orleans, it could just be a souvenir from a time they visited.

She didn’t even know where to start looking. She climbed into the back of the van holding the necklace, looking at the two in the picture.

Where did she come from? Why was she alone? Whose blood was she covered in?

She fell asleep waiting for the answers to come to her.

___

 

Elijah

 

“Elijah, don’t say it. Whatever you have to say, just don’t.” Hayley looks down at her ring, twirling in circles.  “I- from the moment I met you, I have felt… I may always feel for you. But, I can’t allow myself to hear, not to think, not anymore. I have to try here, with this, I owe that to Jackson. Tonight and for as long as I am in this marriage. Whether I am saying this to make you understand or myself, I don’t know. But, I need to say goodbye to this chapter of our lives, the possibility of us being together. I need to let it go for now. Maybe one day, years from now. But that’s another story.” She closes her eyes and gives him a hug, a small kiss on the cheek. Then she’s leaving with her wedding dress flowing behind her.

Elijah couldn’t say anything. Who was he to stop this? To disagree? This was to protect his family, to bring about peace. He couldn’t allow his personal feelings to ruin something as important as this.

He needed to bury those feelings, separate them, put that hope in another chapter as Hayley said. It would be hard to do so, but they all have their crosses to bare. Letting the woman you love marry someone else isn’t half as hard as what everyone else has given up. Klaus and Hayley had to let go of their baby, keeping her life a secret without seeing her for months, as she grew and had her firsts of many things, precious time lost. Hayley was a hybrid, she would live forever, Jackson would not. Elijah had only to be patient and wait, to just watch and see what the future would hold.

Despite knowing and understanding that. Letting her walk away- letting her walk to him, it was just too much. It felt like saying goodbye, but it was so much worse because they would still see each other, even if she was married to Jackson. Klaus would never allow Hope to live out there with the wolves. They may be pack and all, but New Orleans is theirs, and Hope was going to have her kingdom. Or something along those lines. Whenever Klaus talks about it he sounds like a bit of a prat. Elijah doesn’t care much for semantics, anyway Hope will be staying here when the time has come, and apparently, that is now.

He couldn’t stay for the wedding, he wished he were a stronger man than he was, but he couldn’t. With Hayley marrying another and the images passing through his mind after what his mother had done… it was too much.

Her running, screaming, calling for help. Over and over he was thrown back and forth into the memories. His skin itches with it. He can’t just sit around and do nothing. How fitting that’s the moment his mother decides to back off and do whatever it is she does when she’s not torturing her kids. He couldn’t think about the bad memories and let them consume him. He couldn’t sit around and think about Hayley either.

He needed to break ties with those feelings, he’s waited around for women before. Women that weren’t his to think of. It’s always got him in trouble. Usually, in the past, it’s been the same face, Tatia, and Katherine, but he can’t help thinking it’s the same old mistake.

He leaves, going for a walk, it’s late, not many people are out on the street. That means fewer people to tempt him and bother him. The streets still shake with the vibrations of music and dancing in homes and bars. After walking a while he slips into a bar. It’s quieter than most of the others, it’s better, just enough noise to keep him out of his head, but not enough to make him lose control. Balance, that’s what he needed right now.

He walks into the bar and actually feels his mind ease a bit. Like the weight slowly being lifted. He walks to the bar and orders a scotch. It’s not too crowded in here. Plenty of stools on the bar are free, and there’s space so you don’t have to sit next to another. There was lots of dancing and pool playing going on, and a crowd huddled by the T.V watching some football game.

He surveyed the room, looking for something to distract him, and possibly his next meal. Maybe this time he will show his usual restraint. Let’s make that hopefully, nothing has seemed to go right since this whole debacle started.

A girl sitting in the booth back in the corner caught his eye. She was drawing something that he couldn’t see and seemed pretty focused. Something about her drew him in. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn’t surrounded by sweaty bodies stuffed with alcohol. He grabbed his scotch and walked over.

“Is this seat taken?”

Jane looks up from her sketchbook and has to put a hand on her chin to keep her jaw from dropping. Holy hell, he’s hot.


	2. Down In the Dumps

Honestly, Jane didn’t know how things ended up from where they did. She went to sleep and woke up hours later. It was almost midnight and most businesses were closed. Including the library. She would have loved to explore New Orleans’s library. Maybe they would have had books that Mrs. Fran’s didn’t. Maybe she would have had the chance to add to her collection. But apparently, that was a plan for another day.

So she went into one of the bars that were open on the street. She thought it would be fine as long as she didn’t try and order alcohol. She just wanted a place to sit and think, and also draw. She chose the one that seemed the least busy. She had a strange dream. It was about a man who turned into a wolf right in front of her eyes. Then there was another man, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, who turned into some other kind of thing. He didn’t fully change form, but his eyes and teeth did. So she drew them, half and half, one side the normal face of the person she dreamed, and the other half; the things they became.

She was working on the second when the man showed up. Good gosh, she’d seen sexy guys before. On T.V, maybe once or twice passing on the street. But none compared, this man was like…. Dangerously good looking. Not to say that he was dangerous. But it was just in the way that a face could danger to oneself to be that good looking. Not to mention the suit! He’s too good-looking, why add to it by wearing a suit? He was trying to get someone killed.

When he came to the booth and asked to sit down Jane was confused. There were lots of empty booths and stools, he didn’t need to share. So she thought maybe he wanted to flirt or something, even if it was wishful thinking at the time… but he didn’t, he didn’t even speak. He just sat and drank his scotch. At least she thought it was that. She heard him say it before when he ordered but she wasn’t paying much attention, and they don’t put beer in cups like that. So after a few minutes, she went back to drawing. Once all the outlines and details were done, she went onto coloring both. Once she was done she closed her sketchbook and looked at him.

“So… awkward silence.” She says smiling, he looks up from his glass almost as if he’s forgotten that he wasn’t alone. “For like the last thirty minutes. Is that a record or are there some really strange people out there?” Elijah smiles at that and Jane feel’s she’s struck gold. He hadn’t smiled or made any facial gesture but to ask if he could sit. Ever since he's been silent and blank.

“Please forgive me, I do not mean to be rude.” He apologizes. “My mood is less than great at the moment.”

“No, you’re fine. I wouldn’t say that it’s rude. Your kind of look dazed. What’s got you down in the dumps?”

“I don’t- I wouldn’t say it like that.”

“Tomato, tomato.” Boom, another smile from Elijah, just a winning streak for Jane today.

“All right, I’ll play.” He says giving in, putting down his scotch. He still thinks of his words before he speaks. “It’s because of the wedding tonight.”

“Aren’t weddings supposed to be a good thing?” Jane asking, confused.

“I sort of have feelings for the bride. Feelings I intend to get rid of. You are actually helping.”

Jane was confused at that. Did he just insinuate that he thought she was a prostitute? Was this how men find prostitutes? She knew they must have updated the street corner system, but to be alone in a booth drawing seems highly unlikely. Maybe that wasn’t it. Maybe a rebound? Is that a thing people do even when they weren’t in a relationship? He couldn’t have been if she’s getting married today.

“I’m sorry, how am I helping?”

“Your presence, it’s…. lightened the burden somehow.” He takes another sip from his scotch. “That or I’ve just gone completely mad and didn’t notice.”

Jane smiles. “Well, that’s good. Glad I could help; my presence has been known to be therapeutic. Well, it’s been known by me, no one else has said so.” She shrugs.

“Well, I would gladly be the first. Your presence has been therapeutic.” He nods, then takes another sip of his Scotch. Then they both go quiet for a while, but Jane didn’t want to just fall back into another twenty minutes of awkward silence, so she threw out the first question that came to mind.

“Batman or Superman?”

“Excuse me?”

“It will help your mood. Just talk to me. Batman or Superman?”

_ An Hour later-

“You’re kidding! You seriously don’t own a T.V? I thought you were joking! How do you not own a T.V? I mean like, I don’t have a T.V but I also can’t afford a T.V. But I have a laptop and I watch T.V on my Laptop.”

“My family is drenched with drama; I don’t have the time to watch T.V there’s always something going on. One can never truly rest with them.” He sighs.

“That’s sad. You are truly missing out. You haven’t lived until you’ve sat on your couch for over six hours because you were completely obsessed with a new show.”

“I’m not sure that’s true.” Elijah says furrowing his brow, but the smile building gives it away.

“Fine, whatever, let’s agree to disagree.” She begins to worry about what kind of life this man lives; to go his whole life never hearing about Superman or Batman, or any of the other movies and T.V shows she’s spent the last hour explaining to him. Before Elijah gets a chance to reply, a loud shout comes from a few tables away. Then there’s a sound of a glass breaking, and more yelling. Arguing.

“That’s about to turn into a brawl.” Jane says.

“Yes, we should make ourselves scarce.” He says standing and holding his hand to take Janes.

“Oh, yeah, sure.” She grabs her bag, and her sketchbook, and stands, taking Elijah’s hand to help her up. She drops her colored pencils and they spill out all over the floor. Jane curses and bends down to pick them up. As soon as she’s crouched, a glass goes flying right over her and hits the wall. Had she bent down a second later, she would have been hit in the chest or face with it, she flinches harder onto the floor when the glass shatters and falls on her and around her.

Elijah turns around to find who threw it, but no one is looking over. So he can’t tell who threw it. He feels his fangs come out, and he’s ready to punish all of them to get to the right one. As soon as he took his first step a hand grabbed onto his wrist.

“Hey, I need your help so we can get out of here. I think some of the pencils rolled under the table. Can you grab them?” Her voice was shaking just a bit, but the tone was clear.

Just like that, he was back to being clear and level-headed. Not even a week with Camille got him this calm, this clear. He’s starting to feel like his old self. Only this time he knows what he’s done and he’s willing to move past them, not be entrapped by them. What was it about this girl made him feel this way?

He doesn’t answer her, he lets his teeth fade back into his gums, and then bends down grabbing the pencils and stuffing them into her bag. Once they are all up, he helps her stand, and leads her out the door.

Hand in hand.

He doesn’t let go of her hand once they are outside of the bar. Not when they pass Eli in the parking lot. Not when they are two blocks away from anywhere Jane can actually find her way back from and she starts getting a little worried that it might not be the safest idea to let a man she met that day just… lead her somewhere she has no idea where they were going.

“Hey, um, maybe this is a safe enough distance from the bar brawl? We can stop walking now.”

Elijah stopped walking, he didn’t even know where he was leading her. He just wanted her safe and out of sight. Goodness, maybe he wasn’t as clear-headed as he thought. Feeling protective of a girl he met only hours ago. He sighs and sits down on the sidewalk.

His head was clear but it wasn’t clear enough. He needed to find something to focus on now that he wasn’t tormented by images of blood and killing, and the last thing he wanted to think of was Hayley.

Jane looked around, they were on a pretty public street. So she shouldn’t really be worried about being alone with him. Besides, she’s gotten nothing but good vibes from him ever since they began talking. This was just, unexpected.

She opened her phone and saw the time; 2:30. Wow, they’d really spent over an hour talking about T.V. At first it started out with Batman and Superman, and then moved onto all her other favorite shows. Where she explained them all in great detail, and why T.V is critical to the human race. Elijah kept confirming how much it wasn’t. So they agreed that he was probably right, and she continued with her explanations. Now it was super late and she was still with him.

“I guess maybe it’s time to head back now. This is the hour for crimes and bad decisions.” At least that’s what they told her at the orphanage. It’s always stuck.

“Or, you can continue to tell me about- what was it? Terra Nova?” Elijah suggested

“Not much more to tell. It had potential, but it just ends.” She shakes her head sadly. “Wait are you just trying to get me to stay?”

“Yes, I enjoy your company” He smiles up at her. She smiles and sits down next to him. She held back a shiver and wished she wore a long sleeve shirt or a jacket.

“You know… you’re weird.” She says nodding.

“How so?”

“I- just. Were you going to fight those guys in the bar? Because of the bottle?”

“I would have, had you not stopped me.”

“You could have been killed, or really hurt. There were like twelve people over there, and they were drunk, and throwing bottles!”

“No, it is you that could have been hurt. That is what matters. It was thrown clearly in your direction. I’m surprised you are not injured, even from the glass breaking on the wall.”

Jane goes deadly silent for a moment. “Actually think there may be a piece stuck in my back, it stings when I move my shoulder.” She felt it the moment the glass shattered falling at her.

Elijah actually growls, not loud, but it’s just a bit under his breath. He stands and moves around her, moving the strap of her shirt to see there is a piece of glass, in her back. It’s not big or in deep thank good. It’s already begun to be pushed out by the pressure of the blood. He pulls it out and presses his handkerchief to the wound. As it bleeds through and wets his finger it occurs to him, he didn’t even smell the blood. Nor does he crave it even now smelling and seeing it. It’s on his fingers and it’s, it’s nothing, just another day, the world isn’t ending, he’s not losing his grip on reality. It’s all so strange.

What is it about her?

A scab forms quickly. It’s weak and if scratched even slightly it might break, but it’s okay enough for now. He runs his hand down her shoulder and feels goosebumps all down her arm, and she shivers just a bit.

He takes off his jacket and puts it over her shoulders, wrapping her up in it. “You are freezing.”

Jane did regret wearing a tank top instead of a real shirt, but it’s the south, she wasn’t expecting it to get cold, even this late. But here she is, goosebumps in tow. Elijah moves around and kneels in front of Jane, pulling the jacket tighter, around her.

“Who are you exactly?” He asks leaning in close. Jane can’t help but question it… is this flirting? Giving the girl the jacket. Alone in the moonlight, leaning in close together. Maybe she’s miss-reading it. Maybe he’s just a gentleman, but his face seems to get closer and closer, slowly.

“If only I had the answer.” Jane shrugged.

Elijah pulled her closer by the jacket wrapped around her. So close their noses were touching.

“Hey, remember what I said about the hour for bad ideas? Let’s not have bad ideas.” Her closing her eyes betrayed her, showing how easy it was for her to just give into it.

“This isn’t a bad idea.”

Then his lips were on hers, and it felt like her heart was going to explode in her chest.

This was totally a bad idea.


	3. Whoa

The kiss was deep, strong, and filthy. It was not how a gentleman kisses a lady. It was how a starving man ate his food. His hands moved all up and down Jane’s sides. He bit at her lips when she pulled back to breathe. They kept kissing like that. Jane could have gotten lost in it. Had there not been and unending voice in her head telling her it’s a bad idea.

“Bad…” She says, before she’s muffled by his lips again. She leaned back and he followed her. She pushed him back. “This is a bad idea. What’s even worse is doing it on the sidewalk outside.” She says looking around and scooting back. She felt her cheeks warm up, and her lips where tinder where Elijah bit at them.

There was this look in his eyes, a deep want just written all on his face. Jane should probably just say no and head back to Eli. She doesn’t want to be some one night stand with a guy who’s so recently heart broken.

Jane doesn’t really understand that whole thing just yet. The reason people so quickly jump back into the dating world with meaningless sex. Well, if sex has meaning in the first place. Sex is sex. Whether someone wants to make it mean something depends on the individual. Jane is worried she won’t be able to separate from feelings if she’s never to see him after tonight or not. But she doesn’t say anything about this, and she doesn’t go back to Eli. She just sits on the sidewalk as Elijah stands.

“Yes, I- I’m getting ahead of myself. Wait here, will you?” He says, as he begins walking away.

Jane nods, confused. She looks down at her pants, they are dusty with rocks from the concrete. She stands and dust’s herself off. When she does look up to see where Elijah is going he’s already completely out of few. It’s been like ten seconds, there is no way he got out of sight that fast, even if he was running.

She turned around to see if he went the other way, but he was clear out of sight.

“Alright, I’ve got accommodations.”

Jane screams at the top of her lungs and swinging her bag, which hit’s Elijah right in his chest. He stands there, trying to hold back his smile. 

“Jesus Christ, you scared me.’

“I’m sorry.” He holds his hand out. There’s a amused smirk in his face. “Come with me.” She takes it even though there’s that voice again.

_Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea._

They walk down the block to a house at the edge of the street.  She hesitates just inside the door. It’s a cute home. Elijah leads her up the stairs to one of the rooms, and she’s tempted to ask if this is even his home. It’s all carpets and clutter, not something she could see him choosing as a place of residence. But she doesn’t get a chance to ask anyway. He pulls her into the room, and shuts the door.

 “If you are uncomfortable, or want to stop; tell me.”

He gives her a moment; Jane doesn’t know how long really. She takes it, and doesn’t say anything, because she’s not uncomfortable, nor does she want to stop.

Then he’s pushing her up against the wall. One hand in her hair, and kissing her. It was filthy, deep, and ravenous. As if the act could save him from dying. She moaned, never having been kissed like that before. Such a mix of desperation and passion. His other hand made its way down her shoulder, roughing pulling at the fabric of her shirt. It didn’t rip -thank good but it was moments away from it.

He moved his kiss to the exposed flesh of her neck and shoulder, biting- but not breaking skin- and sucking. God her neck was her weak spot. It sent shivers up her spine, and tingling in her legs.

His hand moved lower and lower, grabbing at her skin, her hips, and ass-cheek. He loved the way her skin gave, and how it moved in his hand. He growled against her throat, and quickly spun them and pushed her down to the bed. She looked up at him shivering.

“You’re strong.” She gasped, he just threw her like a rag doll and didn’t even have to hold his breath. She was not a light girl.

“You haven’t seen my true strength.” His lips curve. She thinks he’s about to get undressed, or climb over her, she gets confused when he does neither and goes down to his knees instead. She quickly understands when he pulls down her leggings and underwear.

“Oh.” She says without meaning to. When his mouth is on her she says it again, and moans when his tongue begins to move.

Elijah carefully pulls her folds apart and takes in the smell. He loves it. No woman has the exact same smell. All each and every one unique to them. He particularly likes this smell. He licks her clit, and she gasps. He smiles and does it again, licking harder and at an angle this time. Her leg kicks a little, gently, almost like it’s a reflex. When he starts to suck on it, he earns more than a gentle kick.

As he alternates and changes his movements and actions he finds his arms wrapped around her thighs keeping her still as she moans and wiggles around. When he pushes his tongue inside of her, he has to tap into his vampire strength to keep her from moving.

Even around his tongue he can feel she’s tight. It’s such a cliché thing to say, which is exactly why he doesn’t. He just makes a mental note of it. He eventually moves a hand from around her thigh and takes his middle finger and inserts it into her. Using his tongue back on her clit. She arches her back and moans as his fingers curves up, rubbing the roof. He could feel her start to clench down, it was a pattern, he’d curve his finger, rub it against the top, feeling the ripples and bumps, then she’d moan shaking her legs, or clenching tightly on his fingers. He eventually added another, stretching her slightly, and after a while with that, he added a third.

Her legs don’t seem to ever stop shaking at this point. Practically all of her breaths are moans, or these cute little “OH’s” sounds that she makes.  At this point he can’t take waiting anymore.

He stands and undresses. Jane goes up on her elbows and watches. Her legs feel weak and tingly. Her lip is sore from her biting it to help keep quiet, and it throbs between her legs. She wants to put her hands down there and finish the job, but she’d much rather make it last.

Once he’s undressed, he grabs her hips and pushes her to the center of the bed instead of the edge. He climbs over her and pulls her head up for a kiss while he enters her. She moans against his mouth, and he gives it a few seconds before he starts thrusting. The bed shakes with them, and his breath quickens and she moans quietly. Never stopping the kiss except to change position or to breathe. But it’s never long before the kissing returns.

Elijah takes her hands in his, interlocking fingers, and holds them to the bed. Then he speeds up and all holds on reality are gone.

He angled himself and kept rubbing at one spot that had her toes curling, and when she finally came he just kept going, drilling that spot. If anything he went faster and it prolonged her orgasm. Her moans mixed and then became whimpers. It felt so good it was teetering on the edge of pain and pleasure. Thankfully Elijah didn’t make it last go as far as pain, he moans as his hips stutter, and give jagged thrusts as he cums. When he’s finally done he pushed off and laid down next to her, so not to completely collapse on top of her.

“Still think it was a bad idea?” Elijah asks.

“Ask me again tomorrow.” Jane says curling back into the pillow, and falling asleep.

-

Jane woke up to the sound of birds chirping and a cool breeze on her face. Which it totally weird because there shouldn’t be a breeze in Eli. He’s a van, and she never leaves the windows open at night. She’s so tired she’s willing to let it go. She turns on her side, but when she finds she can’t move, she’s pulled out of her sleep completely.

She quickly sits up in alert and realizes she’s not in Eli, and the whole night comes back to her. She looks back at the bed and the arm that was around her, keeping her from turning, and an awake Elijah.

“Hello.” She says, not really knowing what else to say.

“Hello.” He smiles back, sitting up, pulling her into a kiss. She smiles into the kiss, then pulls back.

“Morning breath.”

Elijah shakes his head. “I don’t care.” They are face to face, his breath hits her, but it doesn’t stink. It doesn’t smell like anything. How did he manage that? Scentless tooth paste? Is that even a thing? Whatever.

Elijah leans into kiss again, when his phone starts ringing. He sighs, letting it ring twice before even getting out of bed to go retrieve it from the floor. Completely, naked. Jane blushes.

“Surely nothing has gone wrong already.” He says as he answers the phone. Then he listens. “I’m sorry, Marcel and his rag tag band of followers? Forgive me if I’m not worried.” He pauses again. “I am not sulking Nik-” Elijah sighs sharply as he gets interrupted

Jane stands up and starts to get dressed. She knows where this is going.

“Fine, I will be there shortly.” He hangs up the phone and looks over to Jane. “I apologize, I must go.”

“That’s okay, I believe you mentioned this… your family is what? ‘drenched with drama?” she says pulling back on her leggings.

Elijah smiles. “Exactly. You don’t need to rush away, stay behind, take a shower if you’d like.” He says putting his clothes on too.

“No I’m good, I actually have some things I have to do, better to start now, rather than later.” Also she’d feel uncomfortable taking a shower there alone. Like that might be too much trust going around the room for her taste. She pulls on her shirt after snapping on her bra and grabs her bag. “Hey, would you know where to get food around here? I’ve been living off fast food for the last three days. Which I’m fine with doing again but’s it’s only a matter of time before my body fights back.”

“I’m sorry I don’t understand.”

“Oh, I’m not from here, I actually just got here yesterday. You know what, it doesn’t matter. I’ll just find something while I’m out.”

She toes her shoes on, and gives Elijah a smile, and a sort of half wave then leaves. Which she totally feels weird about, but that doesn’t matter right now. She’s got to find Eli.

___

 

Elijah

           

“So what is this I hear about Marcel going missing?” Elijah asks as he walks into the compound. Klaus walks over to the railing at the sound of his voice.

“Davina tells me that she went across the river to ask him for something but there was no sign of him, nor was any of his vampires.”

“What does that have to do with us? It’s not like we need their support any longer, we have supercharged werewolves at our beck and call now do we not?”

“I know last night must have been hard for you, but don’t be bitter dear brother.”

“I am not being bitter.”

“Oh? Is that why you went out sulking, all night, not to come back until I called with a problem for us to face? Did you even sleep? Or did you drink all night? We both know you have been quite…parched as of late.”

“Do not worry about my meal plan Niklaus, if I make a mess I clean it myself, as always, it is you who we find ourselves cleaning up after time and time again Niklaus.” Klaus shrugs.

“We still have dangers we are facing. I think now that we have the wolves, we can kill our mother, and Finn too. But if they are holding a hoard of vampires it might be that much more difficult. What do you say? Let’s find them shall we?”

“Where do you suggest we start?”


	4. The Bayou

It didn’t take long for Jane to find Eli. It feels less like being lost when it’s during the day. All she had to do was find the way back to the bar. Thank god Eli wasn’t towed. Jane would have cried. Never will she abandon Eli for a sexy man again. Okay, she won’t mindlessly abandon… she will park in clear safe overnight parking zone and lock him… twice, for safety.

She drove around New Orleans, just a bit, she needed to think about where to go for information. This necklace is from some sort of gift shop. She didn’t know which one, but she was going to just have to find the right one. So she went around town and into the first gift shop she saw.

She went up to the counter. “Hi, I was wondering if you kept photos or records of items sold here, and if so how far back?”

They lady looked at her with a skeptical expression. “Are you like a detective or something? If you are I’d need to call my manager for this and he’s not here right now.”

“No, no, um I am just a citizen, I’m looking for…” She looks down at the necklace in her hand. If she is vague this lady will think she’s lying or in the mob or something. “I’m looking for my parents. This may be a bit Annie, but all I have from them is this necklace. I know it came from a gift shop. I was wondering if there was some kind of way to find out who bought it, or when the picture was taken if it was from here.”

The girl shakes her head, taking the locket into her hands.

“There’s no tag on it. So even if there were digital records of any kind it’s almost impossible to find. Would you happen to have a receipt?”

Jane shakes her head.

“Well, without a code, receipt, or date. Then I really don’t know what to do. I can call my manager, but he’s not here right now, so it will take a while for him to get here if he can.”

“I can wait, really, I have nothing better to do.”

The girl nods. “Sure, let me call him.”

-

About ten minutes later Allison comes back. “Okay, so I couldn’t get him on the line. But I found Cynthia, and she has worked her since before I was born, and if there is something else to do- she can do it.”

Jane nods, standing from the chair. “Where is she?”

“She just came in, over by the door.” The girl points over, and Jane sees an elderly looking woman over by the door. She goes over.

“Hi excuse me, are you Cynthia?”

“Yes, that’s me. You must be the girl Allison was talking about? With the locket? I’m sorry to say, but we get new tourists every day and the files after a certain number delete themselves.  I doubt if this wasn’t bought at least a week ago it’s probably gone.”

Jane nods, she knew it was a long shot. But to actually hear it and lose that hope, it was… sad. Cynthia looked down at the locked. “Can I see?” Jane nodded and handed it over. Cynthia looked over it, and pushed the button.

“We never held this item, well not as long as I’ve worked here, you could try an- wait. I know this.” She looks closer at the picture.

Jane looked up. “You know what? Do you know them?”

“Not them, it’s this mark, peaking out of his shirt. I’ve seen it before. It belongs to…” She starts, but then gets this look that Jane can’t explain. “Listen honey. I don’t know why the people in this picture are important to you. But for any reason I suggest you get rid of them. This locket… throw it away, this group. They were shady characters before all in the Bayou… cursed… now they have gotten mixed up in some real messy stuff. _Dangerous_ stuff”

“But who are they? It’s not like… a gang or something?”

“Not really, it’s of different design, but nothing ever changes with them. Death follows wherever they go, it’s a fact. We do well to stay out of the Bayou and they stay out of here. They haven’t been following that of late. Whoever this is to you, think about it being worth your life before you go.”

“But go where? Who are they exactly?”

-

Elijah

 

“Marcel was seen around here by one of the wolves. He was alone.” Klaus said walking around the building. It was an old apartment complex or something.

“What did he want here? Where are his vampires?” Elijah asks, he looks around, the building is abandoned, nothing there that he knows of. Then the smell hits him. Blood. Lots of it. He runs inside to the source to find the body, of a woman. “Niklaus!” He calls out.  

Klaus bends down confused. “She’s…”

“The one who we had cloak Rebekah and Hope.” He starts. “We needn’t be worried. She was compelled to forget and never to undo the spell. There is nothing she could have told them or done to harm them.”

“Then why was he here?”

“You forget; he is also compelled. Your secret is safe. _She_ is safe.”

Klaus nods standing. “We need to find him now.”

“I think that means we need to find Finn.”

“So we go to the cemetery.”

-

Despite what Cynthia said, Jane asked around about the people who lived in the Bayou and eventually got an address. That wasn’t without strange looks, and being plain ignored. But no other warnings about death and danger. So maybe it was a misunderstanding. Or maybe it wasn’t and there is some weird cult in the Bayou. From what Cynthia gave her, and the fact they live in the woods cult seems more likely than gangs. Gangs don’t hide out in the woods, cults do. But in that cult may be her parents.

Besides, cults weren’t that scary. Unless they were the sacrificial kind, rather than the one guy who wants to have babies with a bunch of women. Oh god, what if it’s a human centipede situation.

NO.

Don’t go to dark places. It might not even be that bad. Jane shuck it off. She had Eli, and a baseball bat if things went south. She also decided to send a text message to Mrs. Fran. Just telling her if she didn’t hear from her by tomorrow morning that she should call the police and send them to the address. Never hurts to heed scary movie warnings. Even if they do seem farfetched sometimes. Better safe than sorry.

It was a thirty-minute drive, one word in her head about these people.

Crescents.

That- and the fact she was found covered in blood. What if… what if they are some cult, some real life reason that she was covered in blood? What if it’s not all that different than the aimless ideas she’s had. What if they were killing people and she found out? What if it was some weird ritual where they cover people in blood. What if it was a Carrie situation?

Ugh, she’s getting off track again.

She would have to wait and see.

It was a while until she saw signs of life that weren’t deer or insects. Which was not fun for her. Wild life is not exactly her thing. She’s good with a shoe and a spider once in a while. Even can tolerate camping without obsessing. But being alone and in an area where insects outnumber her greatly. She does not approve. She doesn’t have enough shoes to handle those numbers. 

She starts feeling calmer when she sees a few houses.

Well not like full blown houses. It’s more like an underfunded summer camp with little cabins and huts everywhere. It looked abandoned, but as she pulled up she noticed some other cars parked and she saw a few people by the water, fishing or something. When she got out of her car she left the bat behind. The last thing she want0ed was to be seen as the aggressor.

She suddenly felt shy, and anxious. This wasn’t like a store, you couldn’t just walk up to a desk and ask for help. This was a neighborhood. Well a neighborhood in the Bayou, devoid of all other signs of life. But… still. It was a different dynamic, and if they really are dangerous then they might not like someone asking questions. So she sorts of just stood there like an idiot. Too anxious to move, to driven for answers to go back. Even if she did move, she wouldn’t know who to talk to. Oh how she wished she’d gotten more information than “They are the Crescents; they live in the Bayou.”

“You new?” a voice came from behind her. Jane jumped and quickly had the good sense to stop herself from screaming. What’s with people always coming up behind her silently? Doesn’t anyone carry lose change or car keys, jingle or something damn it! Make a noise.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Are you new, Hun?” The woman smiles. “You got this… I’m lost and panicking stance going on. I can tell just from looking at your backside. What do you need?”

“Um, I’m wondering who I should talk to about finding someone who might be here?”

The woman looks her up and down and looks like she’s considering something. She inhales deeply and smiles. “That’d be me. I was about to head inside to put this firewood down. It’d be better to talk after I do that.” She starts walking over to one of the larger cabins, Jane doesn’t move, and the woman turns back. “It’s just this way.”

Jane follows her.

-

Elijah and Klaus get to the cemetery only to find that they can’t actually get into the cemetery. There’s some sort of spell around it, keeping them out. Which is a clear sign that the vampires are in there, along with their mother and Finn most likely.

“Mother! Come on out! Or are you and Finn still hiding behind your magic, are we?”

“I wouldn’t call it hiding. I’d call it precaution.” Finn says, waking into view of the gateway. “You see when I make plans I make it with every intention not to fail. Which means preventing interferences from reckless abominations such as yourselves.”

“Take down this barrier and say that again. I wonder if you will sound as confident then.” Elijah says.

“I know you haven’t been yourself Elijah… or should I say, you have been more yourself than usual? But, your thirst and itch for violence will not be filled by me this day. There are others for that.”

“Who might that be? Marcels vampires perhaps?”

“I wondered when you would notice his absence.” Finn smiled. “You don’t seem to care for more than Rebekah and Elijah. Everyone else is disposable to you. I might have been able to commend you on devotion to family, but that only extends who you tolerate and those who promote your reckless behavior. Anyway, Marcel and his vampires may be your foes this day, or it will be the wolves. I’ve decided to let you choose. You will have to kill the vampires or the wolves. If you don’t they will kill each other.”

“What have you done?” Elijah asks.

“I saw your feeble attempts to make an army. Marriage with the alpha of the crescents, Hayley’s werewolf powers being passed on to the pack. Not to mention Marcel has more vampires every day. Did you think we wouldn’t notice? Or have you seriously underestimated us to the point where you thought it wouldn’t make a difference? Either way, let this be a lesson; don’t fill it with people who hate each other. All it takes is one, maybe two deaths and you’ve got a war within ranks on your hands. If I were you I’d be on my way, they are a lot faster than usual. You may not catch them before they reach the crescent wolves.” Finn smiles and walks back out of sight.

“They’re headed to the Compound.” Elijah say’s about to run.

“No. They aren’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“After the wedding more and more Werewolves and they were uncomfortable in the home of vampires, so Hayley took them all to the Bayou… along with Hope.” They both immediately being running over.

-

“The name’s Mary, Mary Dumas. What’s your name?”

“Jane.” She smiles. Mary walks into the cabin, and Jane hesitates at the door not sure if she was supposed to come in or not. It might be weird just to follow someone into their home. Mary set down the wood and looked back at Jane.

“Well don’t just stand there.” She smiles.

Jane comes in. “Sorry, I’m being anxious. I just…” she sighs. “I feel like I’m following a ghost story at this point.”

“Well, who is it you need found?” Jane pulls the locket out of her bag and opens it handing it to Mary.

“I spoke to a woman in town and she said that something peeking out of his shirt meant he was from here? Part of the ‘Crescents’? I don’t really know what it means, I just want to know who he is, and if I could find him somehow.”

Mary looks at a picture, and nods slowly. “I haven’t seen these two faces in whew… almost twenty years now.”

Jane smiles. “You know them? Both of them?”

“That’s Y/F/N, and Y/M/N. Oh goodness they were inseparable, madly in love. They lived out here for a while, he was one of us.” Mary looks to Jane. “unfortunately they left a long time ago, I wouldn’t know the first thing about where to find them.”

“Y/F/N and Y/M/N. Wow…” She smiles down at the picture. “and their daughter? What was her name?”

“Daughter? they didn’t have a daughter… they didn’t have a name for the baby. It died before it was born, and they wanted the gender to be a surprise, so they didn’t have a name.”

“… the baby died?” She looks down at the necklace. “Did they ever try again?”

“I wouldn’t know. They took off right after, I haven’t seen them since.”

Jane sighed, but didn’t allow it to bring her down… she knew their names. “What’s their last name?”

“Y/L/N, was his, I don’t remember hers she wasn’t from here, and I’m not sure they ever actually got married.”

A baby starting crying in the back room and Mary stood. “Let me grab the princess really quick. Apparently a nap is too much to ask her for.” Mary smiles, and Jane smiles back. Mary comes back from the room holding the baby, who was still crying.

“I can’t find that damn diaper bag.” Mary says looking around the cabin. “You know what, I think I left it in the car. Can you check for me? It’s that black truck out front. It’s unlocked you don’t need the key.”

“Yeah sure.” She gets out of the cabin and heads over to the car. She opens the door to the truck and it’s not there. She looks at the back, and the open trunk part. Nowhere to be seen. She turns back ready to walk into the cabin, when she notices a person’s reflection behind her: she’s scared to her very core.

She’s seen that face. She drew it in her sketchbook. He had these veins under his eyes, and his fangs, they were larger than normal fangs.

She turned around and he lunged at her, she screamed and another man tackled him from out of nowhere. Then he actually just snapped his neck.

Like it really snapped.

With his bare hands.

“Are you okay?” The man looked up. She freezes because holy shit, it’s the other man she drew. But this time he looks like the normal half… not the wolf part. That’s probably a good thing.  Before she has a chance to snap out of it, the man stands again, the one with his neck snapped. They start to fight, the Wolf-man (for lack of an actual name), is caught off guard and gets knocked over. Jane trees to help by kicking their attacker in the side, which really does nothing at all to help. But thankfully a third person jumps in, a girl, and she goes with the same move snapping the neck.  

She helps the man stand and start’s talking.

“All of Marcel’s vampires are here. He says they are under some kind of spell. We need to stall until Davina finishes breaking it’s hold.

The man stands again this time it’s faster than before, it’s in the blink of an eye, and Jane already is having a hard time processing everything. Hayley spins, kicking him in the chest, he goes flying back and she follows him to finish the job. and she kicks him in the chest, then follows him. Two more people show up, same lines on their faces and fangs

“Jackson protect her, get her to the cabin!” Hayley yells, taking a stance and going after the other two.

Jackson takes Jane’s arm. “Come with me.” They start heading to the cabin when two more show up, a man and a woman. It’s like they were forming out of thin air. You’d think there would be crunching of footsteps, or seeing them before they got this close.  

“Stay behind me.”

  He punches the man in the chest, and quickly snaps the girl’s neck, and moves back onto the guy. Taking his arm, pinning him, then breaking both his knees. The girl stands again, already healed, pinning him against the wall, as the man begins to struggle but stands up.  

“Jane run! I’ll catch up to-” He gets shoved again, and he kicks her in the side, then snapping her neck again. The man lunges at Jane so she runs past the tree line and into the woods. Not seeing two others join the run after her. All closing in quickly.

She doesn’t get far before she’s shoved against a tree, face first. There’s breathing on the back of her neck, then man snarled behind her, then grabbed her hair, tilting her head to the side, then biting into her neck.

Maybe it’s the blood suddenly not getting to her brain, or the waterfall of new information to the brain, like people who get their necks snapped and then stand right up like it was nothing, and the fact they want to drink everyone else’s blood.

Either way, things start to fade into the black.


	5. We Need a Plan

Klaus and Elijah race to the Bayou not stopping for anything, it takes a while even with their speed. Great distances even a vampire speed are still great distances. One of the many reasons Klaus will never allow them to bring Hope there ever again.

Once they get there, Elijah and Klaus begin to help stop the growing chaos. Pulling vampires off of the wolves, the ones bonded to the marriage and pack, and the ones not. Somehow the vampires are actually harder to kill. Snapping the neck buys you anywhere from six seconds to a minute. That’s about it. This is what Finn meant. Snapping their necks simply wasn’t enough anymore. It was kill or be killed for the wolves. For everyone else it was just infuriating.

Marcel is there, somehow clear headed and fighting. They wonder why he was left out of the spell, but they don’t exactly have time to ask, as they mow through the vampires.

“Don’t kill, just keep snapping their necks the more you do it the longer they are out!” Marcel yells to them. They both nod and began snapping their way through necks quicker.

“Before I came I talked to Davian. She’s working on a spell to stop the, just hold them, off. It shouldn’t be long now.”

Everyone grunted in confirmation, but Klaus was a little more worried about his daughter than these vampires. He was going to kill Hayley, that or skin her alive. That way she’d heal having learned her lesson and he wouldn’t have to explain to Hope why she grew up without a mother.  

But Hope wasn’t in sight so that probably meant she was safe and out of the way. He would feel better if she was in his line of sight. No one else can truly be trusted, that’s something he learns more and more every day. To think, he started out not trusting anybody. He snapped three more necks and pulled a vampire off of Jackson. Elijah was making the same headway through the vampires, and it was becoming a routine, snap, snap, snap. They fall, and then get back up. Over and over. It goes on for who knows how long, before the vampires just suddenly stop moving all together and then fall to the ground unconscious.

“Well, it would seem that our work is done here.” Elijah says looking around wiping his hands off with a handkerchief. The same cannot be said about his jacket, but he’s going to have to wait before he can change.

Hayley looks around, confused before walking over to the two.  

“So it looks like Davina did her job… has anyone seen Jackson and Jane?”

“Jane?” Elijah asks, giving up the useless wiping of his shirt.

“Yeah, she’s a human, she was here with Mary...”

Hayley and Jackson had been by the water when Jane came into the Bayou but they were listening to her and Mary talking. They’d been wary and watching anyone entering or leaving, making sure hope was safe. It’s why they caught onto the vampires so quickly, especially before Jane was bitten.

Hayley smells for them, but there are just too many scents, with the vampires and the blood, not to mention all the unfamiliar scents of werewolves who arrived overnight. It’s hard to tell what belongs to who.

“Jackson!?” Hayley calls out searching for them. There was a groan from behind some bushes, and Jackson stands slowly. “Jackson, thank god.” Hayley walks over to help him stand. His head is bleeding, and he’s got a bite on his arm.

“Where is Jane?” Elijah asks joining the two, and Jackson looks around.

“I- I told her to run.” He looks around, “Um, I think she went that way.” He points to past the tree line in the direction she went.

Elijah immediately runs over and everyone follows behind. Hayley helping Jackson along the way. Elijah has to stop and smell as he waits. Vampires can’t smell things like Werewolves, they don’t get scents. Hearing is advanced and so is healing and speed. But not so much smelling. But they do excel at one particular scent. Blood.

He concentrated, he needed to find human blood, search through the vampire blood, and wolf blood, and he might have caught something. It’s somewhere over to the right, so he follows it. When he finally gets to her, Elijah hesitates. Jane is lying against the base of a tree, skin unhealthily pale. There’s a vampire on the ground in front of her, and two others not far away. All laying on the ground.

“Oh god, Jane.” Elijah runs over and bites his wrist and holds it up to her mouth, but she didn’t move an inch, the blood dripped on her lip and into her mouth but nothing happened. She didn’t swallow, she didn’t heal. She was still unconscious. Elijah looks up at everyone.

“It’s not working…”

Jackson stands on his own and thinks.

“Okay, if it’s not working then we need to get her to my grandmother and quick.”

Elijah nods. He picks Jane up and uses his vampire speed to take himself, Jackson, and Jane to the cabin.

Klaus and Hayley stay behind, looking at the three vampires.

“They aren’t passed out Klaus. They’re dead.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Their hearts are all in their chests… what happened to them?” Hayley asks.

Klaus looks over at the one closest to him. His skin looks like charcoal, and it’s hard to the touch. The other two… their necks were snapped. But they were all grey, and looked like they had been dead for days not minutes. They weren’t healing, which means they weren’t going to wake up.

“The girl. She is human, correct?”

“Yeah, I scented her when I first saw her.”

“She didn’t bare my mother’s mark?”

“I didn’t see one, and she’s not wearing sleeves.”

“So, she couldn’t have done this.”

“No.”

“Then what exactly happened here?” He asks.  

-

Elijah has to be invited in when they get there, but they take care of that easily. Then he lays Jane down on the couch and holds her neck tight, keeping anymore blood from seeping out. It’s all over his shirt and jacket. But it doesn’t bother him for the reason it has for the last few days whenever it’s been soiled. It’s because every drop that is on him, is another drop that isn’t pushing oxygenated blood through her veins and keeping her alive. Mary took one look and began working on something. Pulling herbs and things out of cabinets and stirring them together. When she’s done she puts something very similar to the consistency of mud on the wound.

“That will stop her from bleeding, but I don’t know how much she’s already lost. I remind the room that I am not a doctor. When- if she wakes, she will need lots of water, and iron. I don’t have any iron pills or anything, so someone will either need to get some and bring it. Or take her somewhere she can get some. Like a hospital. They may need to just give her a blood transfusion.”

“I can find a doctor and bring him here.” Elijah says, he turns to Jackson. “Watch her.” Then he’s speeding away.

Hayley and Klaus come not long after. They were investigating the dead bodies; specifically, the one burnt to a crisp. It was like his body turned into a rock from the inside out. At first they thought maybe Davina’s spell backfired, but it didn’t on any of the other vampires, just the three around Jane, and it wasn’t even a consistent death, it was different.

“Mary, what is she?” Hayley asks.

“Human? She’s not a wolf, or a vampire.”

“A witch?”

“There isn’t a way to smell that. I’d have to see her do some magic. Why you asking?”

“She killed Mitch, Alex, and Hamell. In a very unusual way.”

“What way?”

“We can’t exactly tell.”

“I’ll go take a look. Don’t touch her, if she is a witch, apparently vampires aren’t her forte.” Mary grabs her bag, and some herbs, and heads out down the path, Hayley goes with her to show the way.

“You should have never brought Hope out here, it’s too dangerous.”

“As if this danger wasn’t caused by your mother, who is after  _you_. All these people keep dying around you, and still you find ways to blame it on everyone else.” Jackson argued.

“You know what’s going on, you know who we are at war with, it’s why you married Hayley in the first place. But because your wolves can’t handle real authority they decided to leave. You and Hayley would rather play house than lead, that brought us here, and made Hope vulnerable!”

Jackson doesn’t even have a response. It’s always this. It’s what happens when there are too many alphas in an area. Everything becomes a pissing contest. They can’t spend every second arguing; it’s clear they don’t like each other. Klaus is threatened by his position with Hayley and Hope, and doesn’t see where Jackson fits in unless he’s stealing his spot.

Something Jackson can’t even deny. Klaus is dangerous, even only by name, danger and death are attracted like magnets.

They keep trying to pull away, stealing her, making plans to move her further and further away. But maybe that’s not the way. He’ll need to talk to Hayley about it, because he’s grown tired of the back and forth.

“We need to end this Klaus, this argument, this battle. I’m tired of it.”

“Call it your pack, you be the head alpha, I don’t need it, nor do I really want it. I will make my own pack of hybrids if the chance ever comes up again, but for now, I just need my mothered handled.”

“Agreed.”

“So get your pack, I plan to fight her, strike back, weaken her somehow.”

“We’ll think of something.”

-

Elijah was back faster than he thought he would be, it is a great distance, even running, especially when you are pulling along another with you. But he was determined, and there’s nothing he can do better than when he’s determined.

Once he got to the cabin, Klaus and Jackson looked as if they were talking plans in a deep discussion, Hayley and Mary still were out.

Elijah was mostly just relieved that Jane’s heart was beating, it was even stronger than when he left.

“Treat her wounds, tell me if there is anything you need that you are missing.” He compels the doctor. Larry, that might have been his name, Elijah didn’t really bother to figure it out. Then he sits at the edge of the couch by her feet, and waits. He looks down at his jacket and grimaces. The blood that soaked it had begun to dry that ugly brown and stink. How he’d managed to wear it this whole time and remain in control baffled him. The sight of it didn’t cause him hunger, or loss of control. But it caused a general disgust. He loosens his tie and leans back, closing his eyes and regaining his stamina.

The doctor- Larry something- kneels by Janes neck, carefully scraping the salve off. Once he gets to skin, he’s confused for a moment.

“Which wound did you want me to treat?”

“The one on her neck, I’m sure it’s the only.”

“But there’s nothing here.”   
Elijah sighs having to sit up. Never can he have a moment of peace? Looking over Jane’s neck, ready to point out the bite, he stops. It’s gone, completely healed. Not even a scar left behind, if not for the traces of blood, no one would ever know anything had happened.

“How...?” Elijah had to stand and think for a moment. He fed her his blood, but nothing happened. Maybe it was delayed for how near death she was? The salve Mary placed on her neck wasn’t one for healing, it was simply to stop it from getting worse.

“Well then, from what I see your services are no longer needed. I suggest you find a way home. Thank you.”

Nodding, then leaving Larry went on his marry way. Elijah reached down to touch the smooth skin. When his hand made contact, a jolt of pain ran though his arm, all the way up to his shoulder. Its quick but sharp, like a shock, only stronger.

Just as the shock runs through him, a similar one runs through Jane, and it jolts her into consciousness. It’s jarring, and she’s gasping for air at first, for some reason she’s lightheaded. But mostly confused. Nothing makes sense the first few moments. There’s brown walls, the smell of wood and tea. It’s hot, sticky hot. It’s all also unfamiliar.,

_Where where where_

That’s the question that rings in her ears. She tries to remember, and it’s all bits and pieces, and in the wrong order. There’s memories of running, being scared… someone bit her?

Maybe that’s the last thing, to her it feels like the last thing. Touching her neck, there’s nothing that feels out of place. Maybe that’s wrong, maybe she wasn’t attacked? But that feels wrong, something defiantly happened.

“Jane.” Elijah says from behind her. Jane jumps, and screams lightly, startled. She’s even more surprised that she actually recognized his voice.

“Elijah? What are you doing here?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

He smiles after that, and suddenly, she feels really safe.

Huh.

Isn’t that interesting?


	6. Feel's Like Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y/M/N = Your mothers name
> 
> Y/F/N = Your fathers name

When Jane wakes up everyone decides to leave the cabin. Preferring space between her in case she’s working with Ester. Mary goes in with Hayley alone to talk to her, everyone else stands outside and talks.

“Marcel, I suggest you take your vampires away from here as soon as they wake.” Elijah says, looking around at them all. He’s still not confident in the spell returning them back to their sane state. He stays on alert just in case, while keeping an ear trained on the cabin.

“Take them where exactly? We have nowhere to go. The last of the wolves under your mother's control is going to come back tonight to permanently evict us from New Orleans.”

“There can only be but a handful of them left. But they were counting on that to be enough, I’m sure. Either they’d all be dead here, or they’d be picking up the leftovers from the battle. It’s a great strategy, take us out without even using a single one of your own men. It’s also cowardly. My Mother and Finn continue to hide behind magic, and their walls, sending vampires and wolves to their deaths, all for the sake of what? Some pointless game to rid us from the earth? As if it’s a simple as erasing a mistake from paper. I simply don’t have the patience or time to deal with this. If only there was a way, to keep them from doing magic, and from jumping bodies, so we don’t have to be wary of everyone who crosses our path.”

“We already tried that, it’s the only reason she’ll bare a mark when she jumps.”

“It’s not enough, and what of Finn? He could have put himself in one of your vampires whilst he had them. He bears no mark”

“Oh, Finn would rather die than be a vampire I can assure you.” Elijah sighs. Klaus stopped his pacing and smiled with a wicked idea that came to his mind.

“There’s nothing I can believe more wholeheartedly. Everybody head back to the compound. Marcel, call Davina, tell her to meet us there. We need to work together and get rid of my mother once and for all. I may have a plan that will fix all of this.”

“Davina’s not really your number one fan right now.” Marcel starts. 

“I do not care Marcel. Get her there.”

Klaus and Elijah go back into the cabin while Marcel turns to make a call. Klaus pulls Hayley to the side to speak with her quietly.

“So did you find out what she did to the vampires?”

“She’s fine, doesn’t know anything about Esther, or what happened when the vampires attacked her. My guess is Finn must have done something to them, or Davina’s spell backfired on them.”

“Okay, then I suppose she should be compelled and sent on her way,” Klaus concludes, already moved on from the issue. 

“I’ll do it,” Elijah says, stepping up from the side. Klaus gives a confused face, eyes dancing between the two before smiling almost knowingly. Which is probably just some sick game, because he can’t possibly know of Elijah’s prior meeting with Jane the night before. He probably thinks he wants to stay a little longer to keep a distance from himself and Hayley. Which wouldn’t be entirely wrong? Distance would be good for the both of them right now. 

“Don’t take forever, we need this done, can’t have you out sulking all night again.”

“I was not sulking.” Elijah persists. 

“If you say so.” Hayley grab’s Hope and then the three are leaving. Marcel starts trying to wake the vampires up and then getting them to the van. The wolves follow Jackson’s order to heal up and then head to the compound.

Elijah walks over and seats himself back next to Jane where she looked like she wasn't paying attention to anything around her. It was as if she hadn’t even noticed him sit down right next to her. 

“Jane look at me.” HIs suspicion confirmed when her eyes widen in surprise at his voice. She’d been lost in thought. But she does as he says and looks him in the eyes. “I need you to forget everything you’ve seen here today. Forget what happened and the fact that you even came here.”

For a moment her pupils dilate like their supposed to with the compulsion effect, but they stop and she shakes her head.

“Forget all of this? I wish. I might have nightmares for weeks.” She shivers at the thought and touches her neck again. Really nothing there, and she was so sure she’d been bitten. The levity is almost as gone as soon as it appeared and she gets scarily serious looking off. The pain was real, she remembers the pain. There were a few seconds where she felt the warmth of her blood slide down her neck before she passed out. But that wasn't the only strange thing to occur today. “That man, with the black curly hair… I drew him.” She says, looking out the window. She can’t see him now, but he’s out there somewhere. 

“Jackson?” Elijah ask. 

“I think that was his name.” She nods. 

“What do you mean you drew him?” 

“Before we met- in the bar… I had a dream, and I drew a picture of him, but it was a little different. It was like he was a wolf. Then there was this other guy… he looked like everyone else, the ones who were biting everyone.” Jane’s shaking her head, almost like she’s astonished. Elijah doesn’t know what reaction he could have expected her to have, but everything has been a surprise. Especially since the compulsion didn’t work. But dreams and drawings. The fact that she was even here in the first place. It all looked suspicious. 

“Jane, why are you here?” 

“I was just asking around town, about a tattoo or birthmark, and they said to come out here. Which was a mistake? Although the lady at the gift shop did say stay away. So mistake might not be the right term. Maybe stupid? That sounds about right.” 

“Do you have the drawings? The one of Jackson and the other?” 

“Yeah, they’re in the car.” 

He thinks about time and he really can’t just take a look at drawings and figure this out. It’s too time sensitive. But he doesn't want to just leave Jane behind to fend for herself. Not that it would be wise for his own wellbeing anyway. She’d seen too much and by the sound of it, she was well on her way with the means to figure it all out. It could be catastrophic, particularly if his mother is in any way involved. The compulsion not working only complicated things. 

“I need you to come somewhere with me.” 

-

Jane didn't know what she was expecting when Elijah asked her to go with him. But she didn't expect it to be his house, or for his house to be a mansion. Elijah had insisted he drive and since Jane didn’t know where anything was anyway. But to say she was confused as he pulled up and parked was an understatement. 

“Uh, you live here?:” She finally asked when they make their way in. But it doesn’t even feel like it in. Everything so big, and spacious. 

“Yes.” 

She nods and looks around. “So that wasn’t your house that you took me to before.” 

Elijah hesitates a moment before turning back. “No.”

“So what… Did you break into someone’s house? Did we broke in?” 

“I assure you we had the owner's consent. I spoke with him before I returned to get you.” More like he picked the first house he found and compelled the owner to make themselves scarce for the night. But he didn’t need to go into detail. Jane laughs because she knew it didn't seem like his kind of house. Not that she was expecting a mansion. But still. Someone far away starts arguing, Jane can’t hear it, but Elijah’s vampire ears pick up the sound. 

“There are some things I need to deal with.” He takes Jane’s hand again and leads her up the stairs to a room, all the way at the end of the hall. “This is my room, if you could wait for me here, that would be lovely.:” 

Jane shakes her head. “I don’t understand why you even brought me here.” He stops in the doorway and turns back.

“I want to help you, with whatever you are looking for. But I can’t at the moment, so I need you to wait. By now I’m sure you see how dangerous it is to wander alone.” 

Jane’s felt alone for a lot of her life, aside from Mrs. Fran, Jane has been alone. She’s not afraid of doing it again. But it wouldn’t hurt to wait for Elijah for a little while, so she nods. He leans into her just a smidge, and for a moment she thinks he might kiss her. They stand there for a moment, and the world drowns out for a moment. It feels just like this shared moments on the sidewalk next to the bar. Only this time Elijah walks away, with promises of returning as soon as he can. 

Elijah heads towards the sound of arguing.

“What, may I ask, are we bickering about now?”

“Klaus has gone mad.” Kol answers. 

“I have not.” 

“Klaus intends for me to go to our mother, pretended to take her deal, and whilst she is distracted, then attack her,” Rebekah explains. 

“That is madness Niklaus.” Elijah agrees. 

“No, it’s not. Imagine, finally being free of her after all this? Imagine Hope being able to stay here in the compound?”

“I understand your motives, but this is not a plan. What's to stop Mother from jumping to a new body? A body we don’t recognize. Not to mention what if Rebekah is shoved in some other weaker mortal body? What have we then? Lose our sister?”

“If we fail, Rebekah gets everything she’s always wanted.” 

“Do not presume to know what I want.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, was it not you who set off with a bunch of vampires in search of the cure? You’ve been looking for something like this long before mother came ‘round asking for it.” Klaus looks to all of them. “Nothing we come up with will be a perfect plan without risks. This is something we can do now before she’s expecting it.” 

“You don’t think me suddenly walking in after being here won't look like a trap?” 

“I’m saying, that she’s looking for you. Now you found her, before she finds you are better than

the other way around.” 

Rebekah sighs, looking deep in thought. “He may be right.” 

“And the madness spreads.” 

“Hush Kol. Just think. We only may have this one chance at this. At true peace. And really what’s there to lose here? We fail, I get a human body, and live a human life. Something we all know I’ve craved. We don’t fail. Hope gets to finally have a safe permanent residence. With her family. What if we never get another chance?” 

“I think it sounds like she’s made up her mind.”

“Your all bloody mad.” Kol sighs. “But I guess I’m in.” 

“Okay, then we do this tonight.”

_ 

Jane spins, doing a full look of the room. It’s large, spacious, and filled with many things. A bookshelf lines the far wall and she walks across it, dragging her hand through the thin layer of dust that’s managed to build. The books all look ancient, yet well preserved. The titles are all of those she doesn’t recognize. Which is saying something since she spent most of her time in a library. 

Mrs. Fran would probably love to see something like this. That woman was passionate, and a born collector. Some days would be spent, where Mrs. Fran would tell her about the many worlds she's traveled through just by reading the pages of a book. The way she spoke about literature you’d think it an old long lost love of hers. 

Jane had never felt so ecstatic yet inadequate in the same moment than those long days. To see such passion, to hear it, it’s almost as vivid and well written enough for you to feel it, for the barest of moments. Like a high, she could ride off of momentarily. But when she came down, she hit hard. Suddenly, the feeling of jealousy and emptiness would fill. Where had Jane’s passion been? Where does passion stem from? Childhood? She’d forgotten hers. Maybe something her parents would have done for a living could have affected it. 

Like if her dad was an engineer or her mother was a lawyer. Maybe she’d be trying to do those things. Maybe she’d feel like she had a purpose. At the very least she’d have a name. 

All she felt now was lost. 

Y/M/N and Y/F/N 

That’s what Mary had said. Jane looked down at the locket after pulling it from her pocket. These were real people. They lived here in New Orleans, and somehow Jane had gotten it. According to Mary they never had a child. But she also didn’t know where they were, so she could be wrong. 

She clutched the locket to her chest and smiled. There was this feeling in her chest, a warmth, and she just knew, it was hope finally seeping in.  


	7. Oh, Sweet lord

The plan hadn’t gone perfectly, but it was successful. No one knew of Klaus’ intention to turn their mother into a vampire, but it worked nonetheless. It was only unfortunate that Finn wasn’t there to meet the same end. He was significantly less of a threat without their mother to help him. For the first time in a while, it felt like they could all breathe. Even with their father and Finn on the loose, it seemed one large obstacle was finally out of their way.

One down, two to go.

They would deal with Finn and their father on another day, they’ve decided to have one day, just one for resting. After all, Hayley never got a proper chance to relax after her wedding. So, everyone took rooms and went their separate ways, for resting and planning.

Elijah’s wholly unconvinced that he will be able to get rest. He’s been plagued by memories, horrible horrible memories when he does. But he can’t stay awake forever, it will only serve to weaken his resolve. He loosens his tie as he walks towards his room. Trying to think of helpful works Camille told him. Pulling himself back from his triggers.

He’s done that, sadly that's not the only time he feels plagued. It’s a constant weight, a constant hunger. It makes him wish he could go and lock that damn red door, and maybe paint it a less eye-grabbing color.

He stops his movements just as he enters his room. Jane’s form curled into a little ball on the edge of his bed. He breathes quietly, letting out a soundless sigh. He’d forgotten the poor girl before his departure is going to subdue his mother and she waited. Probably weakened and tired after the ordeal in the Bayou and it is hitting her as she patiently waited for him.

He walks over to her, watching the slow drag of her chest with breaths. Already he feels the torment in his head lifting. That red door somehow feels further away, momentarily out of sight. Just being in the same room as Jane made him feel this.

“Why.” He whispered. Pulling a strand of hair out of her face, smiling down at her. Facial expression painted with a mix of confusion and pleasant wonder. Jane shifts slightly, even at his feather like touch, and turns sides, revealing her sketchbook beneath her. A page or two crinkled by her movements and body pressure.

He carefully slides it from under her and flips through the pages. Sure, enough a sketch of Jackson in great detail and his wolf form. On the opposite page, was Joshua. Elijah suspected some kind of magic involved. Maybe his mother had some other sort of torment planned for Elijah. Let him have his guard down, for a moment of peace from this hell in his mind that she’s created, to take it away from him by leading this girl to the Bayou.

Although that seems unlikely, considering Jane said she’d dreamed of this before she’d even seen Elijah. He remembered her drawing as that sat together. Esther couldn’t have planned down to that much detail. This very well may have nothing to do with her.

He flipped to the more recent images she must have drawn during his time away because stray color pencils lay around her and on the floor. His hands go still when he’s met with the first sketch. It was Elijah, in perfect detail. Split down the middle was his now, modern self, and the other half, a look from a thousand years ago, probably freshly turned. But what truly stopped him, was the large blood-red door, behind him in the image.

Jane should have no idea what he looked like all those years ago, she should not know of this door, it was only in his head. Not something she could copy or hear about. Yet here it was, drawn clearly, perfectly as he sees it in his mind's eye. The next image didn’t stun him as much, but it still was a shock to see his father drawn. This picture like all others was split down in half, but unlike the rest, the second half was not another version of his Father, but of a woman, a woman that Elijah didn’t recognize. But he knows she’s important if she’s paired with Mikael of all people. Third and least stunning of all was Finn. One half the body he’s currently taking over, and Finn's original face. Elijah sets the book aside and decides it can’t wait to ask questions. He gently shakes Jane awake.

“Jane.” He whispers. “Jane,” he repeats, loudly this time as she stirs, eyes slowly peeling open.

“Hmm?”

“Jane, I need to speak with you about these drawings.”

Jane feels groggy at first, only barely stopping herself from asking for five minutes of sleep before she realizes, that no one’s waking her up for school, or for work. But that she’s left, and she isn’t in Eli. She sits up, eyeing Elijah warily before scooting back and rubbing her eyes.

“Watcha say?” She asks, looking down to her sketchbook in his hands. She fights the urge to take it from him. In a way, that thing is her diary. Her dreams are drawn in there, it feels like a violation like he knows her deep dark secrets. But she doesn’t have any, and besides, she remembers saying something earlier about showing him the sketching of the man Jackson, and the other.

“These drawings, when did you do them?” He’s flipping through three she’s never seen before, and she looks down to her hands, rubbing her fingers together and feeling a soreness in them.

“Probably just now.” She sighs because this is why she likes to keep things to herself. “I sometimes draw in my sleep.” It’s easy to ignore if her voice comes off a little defensive, as she chips at her nail polish on her fingers.

“Have you ever seen these people?” He asks, flipping through the pages of Finn and his Father. Jane shakes her head.

“Nope.”

“And this door?” He says, flipping to the page with his own face on it.

“No.”

Listening to her heartbeat there are no changes, so she’s not lying. At least not willingly if she’s been compelled. Not that he was able to before, but if it’s got anything to do with vervain it would explain a lot of things.

“Come with me a moment.” He says, taking Jane’s hand once again as he leads her out of the room. She follows, waking up even more with the movement. She looks down at their joined hands and fights to hold back her smile. Why does he always do this? It’s not bad, she thinks, just strange. In the back of her head, she wonders if he’s just a hands-on person. Soon they are out of the room walking down the hall and then downstairs. The building is large, and Jane’s sure she’d get lost if Elijah wasn’t there to lead her. Not that she knew they were going anyway.

They turn down the hall and walk out into entryway of the home, to find a man bent over and collecting the bags.

“Kol, I require your assistance.”

The man- Kol- laughs, not bothering to turn around.

“I’m all out of assistance, brother. I’ve done my part, kept my word, I’m out of here now.  I’ve got to find a way to fix myself.”

“I understand your troubles, and I will do what is within my power to help you. I just need a moment of your time to help me with this.”

Kol stops packing his bag, and sighs.

“What is it you nee-” Kol turns around, stopping dead in the middle of his sentence when his eyes land on Jane, and then they go wide.

“Oh, sweet lord.” 

Jane felt nervous at his sudden shocked gaze, that was pointed directly at her.

“Do you know her?” Elijah asks, finally letting go of her hand and taking a step towards Kol, holding out the sketchbook. Kol hadn’t been drawn into it, nor was Klaus or Rebekah. He’d assumed there would be no connection between the three and her.

“No.” Kol shakes his head, not taking his eyes off her. “But, I’d very much like to.”


	8. Labonair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like there is way too much dialogue in this one but.... here ya go.

Kol looks at Jane carefully, eyes circling around her body. It makes Jane’s skin itch a little, she feels paranoid as if there might be someone behind her. But she doesn’t move, feeling frozen under his gaze.

“How are you doing that?” He asks, and it takes Jane a moment to realize he is, in fact, asking her.

“Doing what?”

“You’re aura. How’d you make it so strong?”

“My aura?” she chuckles lightly as she says it. She wonders if that’s what he’s looking at. He nods, and she shrugs. “I’m not doing anything.” She looks to Elijah for some help or context, but he looks utterly perplexed.

“What do you mean it’s strong?” Elijah asks. “Is it a bad thing?”

Kol shakes his head. “I wouldn’t say it’s bad. The stronger and aura the stronger the person. For witches the brighter the aura the stronger the magic.”

“How strong is hers?” He asks, looking at Jane with an intensity that makes her want to shiver. She's not sure where the conversation is going, but it's making her very nervous the longer it goes on.

“It’s immense-” Kol says, a bit of awe in his voice. “-and blinding. I’ve never seen an aura so bright or big.”

Elijah holds up the sketchbook, holding out his page and showing the others. “She drew the one of Jackson and Joshua before she’d gone to the bayou, and the others just now. In her sleep.”

Kol takes the book, and Jane feels awkward. She’s not sure about everyone just getting free looks into her sketches, even if there are sketches of them inside it.

“It’s not strange for witches with powerful magic to manifest it without trying. They pick up on more based on their surroundings, and she’s been around you.” Kol says simply.

Jane smiles because he must be joking… right? “I’m not a witch.” She says, and it sounds like the weirdest thing she’s said in her life. It’s really not something you expect to ever have to say in- what now seems to be a serious conversation. 

Kol looks back to her. “You sure about that, hun?” Smile on his face, but true confidence in his eyes. Either he’s wrong but really believes it, or Jane’s wrong. She’d like to think she knows herself, but with everything, she’s seen in the last twenty- four hours can she really not at least try and be open to it?

Kol doesn’t wait for a response and goes back to flipping through the other pages. He stops on the drawing of their father. “Jesus.” He whispers. “That explains why he was nowhere to be seen while we fought our mother.”

Jane’s eyebrows furrow at that sentence, but she stays silent.

“What do you mean?” Elijah asks stepping forward. Looking at the sketch of their father and the mysterious woman.

“Right here on his forehead it’s hard to see because it’s only half, but that’s a channeling mark. Finn must be channeling him.”

“That’s how he got all the vampires to go crazy with hunger,” Elijah says.

“That means we have a big problem.” Kol says, looking up from the book.

“Why?”

“If he used father to do that spell, then what Davina did was only temporary. As long as he has father channeled that spell will last.”

“But they are all on their way here.” Elijah says, pulling his phone from his pocket, about to call Marcel and warn him not to bring them back.

“Actually.” A voice comes from behind them. They all turn and Jane recognizes him as Marcel, he was at the Bayou as well. A group of people standing behind him. “We’re already here.”

 

_

 

Elijah steps forward placing himself between Jane and the vampires now filling the compound. They looked only slightly less hunger-crazed as they had before, but he knew it would grow if Kol was telling the truth. 

His mind goes to Hope who’s upstairs in her room. The wolves handled themselves before, and they probably could now. Elijah would let them handle themselves. First thing first, he needed to get Jane and Kol out of the way. He grabs them both then uses his speed to take them to Hopes nursery where she’s sleeping calmly in Hayley’s arms. When they stop Jane stumbles back, only just catching herself on the wall.

“Holy shit, how did you do that?” She asks winded, confusion running through her. He turns to answer her but thinks better of it, with more important things at the moment to deal with.

“What’s wrong?” That question comes from Hayley, slowly standing and placing Hope in her crib.

“It’s the vampires, they’re here and it appears Finn’s spell hasn’t worn off.”

“Oh no, the pack.” Hayley begins, but Elijah cuts her off.

“I think what’s more important is Hope. You stay with here, with Kol and Jane. I’ll get Niklaus and handle the pack and my brother.” Hayley nods slowly looking back to the crib.

“You’re right. Go. We’ll be fine here.” He nods, sparing Jane a quick glance before speeding off.

Jane finds her mind filled with hundreds of questions, but her mouth is frozen shut, not knowing which question she’d ask first. So, she stands there and looks between the two, smiling awkwardly.

_

Elijah makes quick work of updating Klaus and the wolves of the situation. Which goes about as well as he could expect.

“They can’t stay here with Hope.” Klaus repeats

“Where else might we send them?” Elijah asks, he knows there is no good place to hold them until they deal with this other than here in the compound.

“Just let them loose,” Klaus suggests.

“You can’t do that.” Marcel’s voice comes in. “We let them loose and there’s going to be a massacre in the streets. We don’t feed on the people who live here, we don’t draw attention. Those are our only rules. The witches would drop the hammer on us so fast, Finn will be the least of our problems. Not to mention you’ll draw every hunter on this side of the hemisphere right to us.” 

Klaus sighs. “Well, what do you suggest?”

“Kill Finn, stop the spell.” Marcel answers.

“Yes, let’s just do that. However, it’s not been so easy in the past, we don’t know where he is, and now apparently, he’s channeling our father. Elijah, did I leave anything out?”

“No brother I think you covered it.”

“What about your mother?” Marcel asks.

“What do you mean?” 

“She’s alive, isn’t she?” 

“Depends on if she finished the transition,” Klaus says, smile of satisfaction curling on his face.

“I bet Finn would do just about anything to go free her.” Marcel states simply.

“What are you saying, we lure him there?”

“Exactly.”

“How do you suppose we do that? Like he won’t see a trap a mile away.” Elijah replied, shaking his head. They’d underestimated Finn one too many times, and it’s how they ended up where they are now.

“Appeal to his ego. Ask him a favor and barter for the information.” Marcel explains. Klaus goes silent, considering and nods. “Okay, I will call him. Marcel stay here and protect Hope and the wolves. Elijah comes with me, and let’s finish this.

_

“So, who are you exactly?” Kol asks after a few minutes of heavy silence. Jane once again has to realize the sudden question is being directed at her.

“Uh, I’m not actually sure how to answer that question,” Jane says.

“Well, we know you draw images of us, but we know nothing about you. How did you and Elijah meet anyway? Did you seek him out after your drawings began?”

“No, I- he came up to me.” She defended. For some reason, it felt like she was being accused of something. “I don’t even care about the sketches. I- I usually just draw and ignore them.”

He smirks. “The strongest witch I’ve ever met, and she’s ignoring her powers.”

“She’s a witch?” Hayley asks.

“I’m not a witch.” She denied, she may be questioning every belief she grew up on, but she wasn’t about to walk around claiming she’s a witch and she’d appreciate it if others didn’t either.

“She doesn’t believe.” Kol rolls his eyes. “Which is as frustrating as it is intriguing. With that much power, there’s no way there weren’t signs. More than just the sketches.” He crosses his arms. “Your parents never told you about your magic? One of them had to be a witch too for you to have power.”

Jane shakes her head, feeling her pocket for the necklace. Thinking back to the names Mary told her. “I don’t know who my parents are.”

“That’s why you were at the Bayou.” Hayley says, “you were asking about someone. You’re parents?”

Jane nods. “A lady told me a tattoo or mark meant the crescents, and that they lived in the bayou.” 

“What mark?”

Jane pulls the locket out and hands it to Hayley, who looks down at it in concentration.

“It’s the Labonair mark.” Her voice is quiet, and in question, as she looks to Kol handing him the necklace. “Those are your parents?”

Jane shrugs. “It could have been models for the necklace for all I know at this point. But it’s all I’ve got.”

“Turn around.” Hayley says, and Jane allows herself to be spun around. A cold finger pressed on her shoulder. “She’s got a scar here.” Hayley says, and Kol looks too.

“Exactly where the birthmark would be.” He says. “It looks like someone purposely cut over it.” Jane thinks back to the police files on her. There was a picture of a scar on her shoulder. She was sure it’d have faded by now. Hayley shakes her head.

“That doesn’t make any sense, I thought Hope and I were the last of the Labonair’s.”

“It appears that may not be the case.” Kol says. “It’s clear someone was trying to hide it.” He steps back, looking Jane up and down. “A powerful witch with Labonair blood flowing through her veins. This should be interesting.”

Jane had no idea what most of what they were saying meant. But she knew it probably wasn’t any good.

She should have stayed with Mrs. Fran in that library.


	9. Yet

There’s a bang on the door, and Jane jumps back.

“Looks like the vampires have found the only food left in the building.”

“They aren’t going to get in, are they?” Jane’s hands shake slightly, remembering her last encounter with them ended up with a lot of holes in her memory.

“It’s not exactly reinforced,” Hayley says, stepping back, putting herself directly between the crib and the door. There’s another crash against it, and it sounds like some of the door is giving away from the blow. It’s only a few more hits before it goes down, all three of them know it. 

Hayley turns to Kol. “Can’t you put up a barrier spell or something?” Kol looks down at his hands and shakes his head.

“I can’t. I’m hexed, I’m too weak to do a spell strong enough to hold them all back.” He looks at the door as another bang, hits. Dust from the cracked wood floats in the air. He looks to Jane deep in thought. “She could though.”

Jane shakes her head fervently. “I- no, I’m not a witch, I haven’t even had real time to come to terms with everything that’s happened.”

“At this point, it’s either keep trying to deny what you are and die, or suck it up and save us.”

Jane ground her teeth in anger. This was not how any of this was supposed to go. She was supposed to find her parent’s and live happily ever after. Or at least some form of peace with her past. Not this, nothing remotely close to this was in her idea of what was going to happen.

She should have just given up when she had the chance.

“Well, what do you want me to do.” She conceded, giving up with all the arguing. When whatever it is fails, then maybe they’ll leave it be.

He smiles, “Okay face the door, and raise your hands.”

She does, spinning towards the door and raising her hands in a surrender position. He comes up behind her, pushing her hands out, so the palms are facing the door, and he steps aside.

“Now I want you to imagine the door being stronger than wood, like rock or metal. Anything to you that makes the door stronger in your mind. Now I want you to focus on this, and nothing else.”

Jane closes her eyes and concentrates, ignoring how silly she feels is easy with the low thrum of panic building in her chest.

“Now say the word ‘Obice’.”

“Obice?” She opens her eyes, turning to him in confusion.

“It means barrier in Latin. Just do it. Chant it over and over, concentrate.” He commanded, and Jane closes her eyes. She imagines a brick wall, a thick one, that’s very tall.

“Obice.” She says once, and whoa. A shock stabs in her leg, like similar to the feel of static electricity. She looks back to Kol in question and he motions for her to continue, so she tries again. “Obice.” This time the shock is in her shoulder, harder and longer lasting than the last. No mistaking it’s because of the words… because of magic. She’s beginning to fear it. Was magic supposed to be this painful? Was it going to get worse? If so she didn’t want to be a witch.

But a little of pain isn’t a top priority at the moment with a bunch of people trying to break into the room.

“I don’t think it’s working,” Hayley noted, Kol shushed her.

“We don’t have any other options at the moment. Just continue Jane, focus.”

 That’s the thing. Jane is concentrating, she’s saying the words, and she feel’s something. But it’s not working. Just as she’s about to agree with Hayley, the door bursts open, vampires flooding into the room. That electric pain shoots all over Jane’s body, pain doubling, then tripling by the second. She thinks she calls out in pain, but everything goes black before she can fully process. The last thing she remembers is the sound of a crash and a burning in her lungs.

_

Killing Finn didn’t turn out like they’d expected. Apparently, they’re long dead sister isn’t quite as dead as they’d expected. Which is about how their entire family seeming to work, so they aren’t even surprised anymore. 

Freya saves Finn’s soul in a locket around her neck, calming to keep it safe, for one day when he may return to the brother that she remembered. Then she precedes to warn them about another threat, something far worse than their mother or Finn.

Dalilah, who will be coming for Hope. Klaus blisters at the mention, you could almost see his hackles rise and anger. He takes it as a threat, calming Dalilah to be a fairytale, and then in the same breath accusing Freya to be working with her. Elijah can see the conversation only rising to a fight from the panic that Klaus is masking with his defenses and curt words as always.

“This is the third time we’ve heard of this Nikaus, we should take the threat seriously even if we don’t trust the source,” Elijah says, looking past Freya. Deciding who to trust was important if this threat is true. Which he is truly beginning to believe. 

Finn had seemed truly afraid of this Dalilah. Freya seems to take this threat gravely as well.

“Fine, let’s all prepare ourselves for fairytales, and monsters.” Klaus sighs, “I’m going back to the house to see if the spell is lifted. Feel free to speak of the past ‘till your heart’s content.” Klaus speeds off without giving anyone else a chance to speak.

Freya turns to Elijah. “Thank you for being kind, dear brother.”

Elijah nods, “While I don’t doubt your relation, it does nothing to further me to trust you. As you already know we’ve just had to deal with some family members. This Dalilah you want us about is also a family member. With this information, realize that there is no sympathy I can hold for you because of this fact, and if you do come to harm us, I will not hesitate to strike back.”

She smiles, almost fond of the threat. “I understand, completely.”

-

Vaguely in the back of her head, Jane can hear voices. Lots of them, like a crowded cafeteria at school. Somehow, it’s muted though. There’s white noise covering it. A thin veil keeping her under. Under what she doesn’t know. Just… under. She feels safe and warm. Yet her heart is racing, it’s strange. That much she can understand, that much she knows. Everything else is blank.

There’s a voice, it comes from another direction, she thinks at least. Almost like it’s past the veil of safety. It’s clear, so clear it echoes in her mind bouncing off nonexistent walls in Jane’s mind. 

“My dear, aren’t you a prize.”

Jane searches for the voice, but her eyes are covered by that thin veil. All she can see is a bright baby blue. Everything else is shielded from her. Even the owner of the voice is hidden.

“Who- where?” Words are hard. Even in Jane’s own mind, it’s hard to get them out. She feels like cotton balls have been shoved into her brain through her ears. Like she needs a rinse of some kind to clear her.

“Do not struggle, my child.” The voice comes again, it’s a woman, a very calm woman. That’s what Jane gains, slowly processing. “I’m sure you must be overwhelmed. That much power… it tends to take over.”

Power? That’s right, Jane remembers. Something happened. She was scared, she is scared. It’s why she needs a safe place.  A wave of energy washes through her, and that veil gets just a little thinner, the crowd of voices getting clearer.

“Power so great does not bestow itself among the weak. Control is within your reach, you simply need to grasp it.”

“How?”

    -

Elijah gets back to the compound not long after Klaus does. He’s utterly surprised at the lack of dead bodies. He’d expected more of a fight whilst he and Elijah were gone. Maybe Jackson was a worthy leader, after all, keeping his people from killing or being killed.

But the lack of living people is concerning. The building seems empty, except for the heart beats he can hear all crowed inside. Curious he makes his way up the stairs and down the hall to the nursery. When she starts down the hall, he can immediately see Hayley holding hope, in what looks like a heated conversation with Klaus and Kol.

“-but we have no idea if we can trust her.”

“It’s not about trust, it’s what she can do, and who she is. The Labonairs are a dying breed, you should stick together, and find out why that is.” Kol insisted. Klaus looks very deep in thought so Elijah decides now is the time to step in.

“What about Labonairs?” He asks.

They all notice his presence and the sharp looks makes him feel less than welcome.

“It seems your guest is more trouble than I think we can handle at the moment,” Klaus says, not answering the question.

“Jane?” Elijah realizing her lack of presence.

“I was right about her aura, it’s a direct sight to how much power you have. It’s… you’ll have to see yourself.” Kol blows out a deep breath and steps out of the way. At the end of the hall, he can see vampires and werewolves all crowed around the room, talking amongst themselves, murmuring, whispering, some speaking loudly, all seeming to be inquisitive heated discussions.

But everything was out of place with this picture.

It took a second, but it all came into place.

First was the wall, a large portion of it was blown open. Chunks of wood littered the floor. As if they were put through the shredder, the door seemed like it’d been reduced to nothing but sawdust. Then five bodies, so much for no casualties.

Three of them laid where the door used to be, all skinned blue, and pale, yet no wounds could be seen on them. Two laid on opposite sides of a somehow unscathed circle by the blast, both charred from the inside out, skin looking just like the one form the woods.

In the middle of this untouched circle sat Jane. She was resting on her knees, head slightly tilted and eyes wide as she sat stock still. There was an unnatural light blue glowing from her eyes, and the air around her seemed to move, spinning up light gusts of wind. Wood chunks and dust floated around her in a perfect circle of safety.

“Not too close Elijah, or you’ll end up like the other two,” Kol warns from the side. They’d watched the two approach her and then turn to charcoaled statues once they’d stepped past what seemed to be the threshold. The others died as soon as they broken through the door. The sound was similar to an explosion. Surprisingly Kol and Hayley remained unscathed during the entire event.

“What have you done to her?”

“We’ve done nothing, she did it to herself. I think it’s some sort of protection spell, whenever someone tries to touch her, they end up a lump of coal.” He’s been thinking about it since it happened, trying to understand. Hayley mentioned how something similar happened in the woods. Which left it no doubt in his mind it’s a protection measure. One that it seems Jane’s unaware of considering she her hesitation to believe in magic.

He’s seen powerful witches with latent powers leaking though before their control. Visions of the future, feelings, sensations. All completely normal. Even occasions of fire, or some levitation of objects. But the force of magic that burst out of her, and the current steady field of it, wrapping her in a ball of safety is something he’s never seen, intentional or otherwise. The things it’s doing to her aura alone have him worried.

It’s spread out to the size of the room, yet it’s light dimmed. As if it’s bleed into her eyes, causing it to dampen. He muses that maybe it could be the use of magic slowly causes it to fade, yet the flashes of color that jumps through it, sparking light even if only for a moment serves to muddle his theories. It’s as fascinating as it is frustrating. He’s spent almost his entire life studying witchcraft, but to see something so strong, with such an impact and he can’t make a single definitive answer makes him wonder how he could have possibly missed this.

“How do we stop this?” Elijah asks, turning to them, unease pouring from his body language.

“I have no idea. I’ve never seen anything like this.” Kol answers pulled out of his musings.

“None of us have,” Hayley says, keeping her and Hope distance safe. She looks down at the Laboinar mark on Hopes' shoulder and is reminded of the scar on Janes back. She’s always wondered and questioned who she is. When she did find out, she only ever got more questions. This girl wasn’t lost like Hayley was, she was hidden, mark burned to hide her identity. That is if she wants to really believe there was a mark there at all. She shakes her head, trying to push the thoughts away, if she goes down that road there may only be questions and disappointment at the end of it. She doesn’t know if she could handle that, not now, not with Hope and all this danger. “This is crazy, I’m taking Hope out of here. We should have stayed in the Bayou.”

“That’s not wise. Not with Mikael running around free, and this supposed sister Freya.” Klaus protests.

“Not to mention Dalilah,” Kol adds.

“If we are to believe this threat, which Elijah and apparently Kol both believe, then Hope is in more danger now than ever and we need to rally, to find a base and stick to it. We are here, this is our home. Stay.” Klaus enunciated.

“Fine.” Hayley sighed. A wave of groans from the group on the other end of the hall stole their attention.  About half the group is doubled over clutching their chests.

“The vampires,” Kol says, noticing the pattern of pain. Elijah has a question on the tip of his tongue when the pain runs through his torso so sharp he finds himself doubling over as well. Klaus begins to feel similar effects.

Inside the room, Jane begins to cough a few times, and Kol turns to her. The blue in her eyes fading back to a normal look, and she collapses the rest of the way onto the floor and breathes deeply. He can see her aura gathering back around her tightly and burning as bright as it was when he first met her. How odd, he thinks. The pain in the vampires simultaneously stops. A few fall to the ground, but the rest manage to get their strengths back quickly, only listing slightly in posture.  

“What in the hell was that?” Joshua asks, leaning up against a wall, Aiden reaches out and helps him steady. All eyes turn to Jane who slowly sits up, looking at the body’s around her in shock.

“I don’t know yet.”


	10. We wait

Jane's chest hurt, the ache pulsed with every breath she took. Thankfully it was dull. Something she could tolerate while her mind tried to catch up with the rest of everything. Words were being spoken in the room next to her, she’d been pulled back into Elijah’s room. She would have felt bad about being kept out of conversations, but she was too busy haunted by the faced on everyone when she’d stood.

They were scared- of her. The bloodthirsty vampires that were breaking the door in to attack her, were now jumping back to get space from her. She’d never been feared before; the feeling was similar to that of a baby crying as soon as you hold it. No, it’s actually worse than that. Adults were scared of her. People who can run faster than her eyes can track and get their necks snapped and be perfectly fine seconds later were flinching at the sight of her.

It makes her scared of herself.

She snaps out of her thoughts when she hears Elijah’s voice travel down the hall.

“Calm down Niklaus.”

“Calm down? You’ve gone farther off the rails than I thought brother. You bring this girl here, this witch, you don’t even know her, and we come back to find her blowing holes in the walls killing the vampires. What of Hope had been injured.”

“She was doing it to protect us.” Hayley mentions.

“Do you know that for sure? She could have been trying to kill all of you, or maybe if she was trying to protect you it could be just to earn your trust and play spy for Dalilah.”

Jane wonders who Dalilah is, and why she’s suspected of being a spy for her. Jane didn’t even want to come here. Elijah had insisted on bringing her, and then, well left her here, twice. They have yet to even earn Jane’s trust, she’s not trying to earn theirs.

“Don’t let your paranoia spread so far you can’t see anything else.” Elijah huffs. 

Klaus smiles. “I’m just saying, that my judgment isn’t the only one that may be clouded.”

Hayley sighs. “So, what are you saying Klaus? You want her gone? I don’t think that’s smart, you heard Kol, and on top of all that, she might be one of the last Labonoiars. She could be our only chance of figuring out what happened.”

  “I didn’t think you were interested in learning anything more about your past.”

“Well, that was when I thought I no longer had a chance to.” Hayley sighs. “Now I do, and I don’t want to miss out on this, I spent my whole life not knowing who I was, what I was. With everything going on- I just don’t want Hope to end up like that.”   

“Fine, but you better figure out exactly who she is, and what she wants. If anything happens it’s on you, Elijah.”

Jane hears footsteps so she sits back down on the bed and pretends to not have been listening intently on the conversation. There’s nothing to grab so it doesn’t really go her way. Elijah comes into view and she relaxes slightly.

“So, I can stay.”

“Yes, it seems my family is using curiosity to get past their paranoia.”

“I’m not even sure I want to stay here,” Jane admits. “I don’t even know why you brought me here in the first place. I just wanted to figure out who my family is, and if you’re telling me that they’re dead or something- then I should go back home.”

“Jane, if you are who we think you are, then you have family right here in this house.”

“Hayley and her daughter, you mean, because of some birthmark that they aren’t even sure I have.” The absurdness of the entire situation begins to show through painfully clear and it’s crazy.

“Yes.”

Jane shakes her head. “I don’t know if it’s worth it. I’ve only known you for two days and I’ve already been attacked twice. By vampires. I didn’t even know vampires were real until yesterday… and now I’m some sort of witch who does magic, I don’t even-” Jane sighs cutting herself off. “I was expected kooky cousins, maybe a rich aunt who gives me fashion advice.  Or nothing at all. I don’t think that I want… all of this.”

Elijah nods, walking over and sitting next to her on the bed. “One thing that I’ve learned in my life that seems to always be true, is that those drawn to us, don’t choose it. Whether it be fate or destiny, it was chosen for them. This magic you have, you had it before you came. Being a Laboinar that would have come to haunt you like it has Hayley, and what we assume happened with her family, it came to haunt them too. Running from it now, will not help you.”

Running isn’t exactly how Jane saw it. Coming here had been running, leaving the orphanage and that whole part of her life. That was running from it, and also towards a new life, she’d hoped to have. But finding nothing, or this wasn’t what she wanted. But when does life just give you what you want? She sighs, dropping her head in her hands. Sleep would be nice right about now, Jane’s certainly tired enough for it.

“Why are you trying to help me? You’ve been trying since before Hayley and Kol saw my back, so- why do you really care?”

He looks away for a moment, thinking, then he moves forward lips pressing against hers, gently. It’s almost nothing compared to the moment they shared on the sidewalk, or the rest of the night after, but it’s nice. He pulls back, just enough to sperate their lips.

“Something about you just puts me at ease.”

 Your presence, it’s…. lightened the burden somehow.

Jane remembers him saying it at the bar, about how afterward he still didn’t want her to leave. “So, what? My presence helps you, so you decide to help me? A complete stranger.”

“Exactly.”

Jane looks into his eyes, she expects to see something. Some past trauma, some hurt, a sign telling her every answer to the questions that have built over the last few days. But she see’s nothing but two beautiful brown eyes. Completely normal compared to eyes she’s seen on others. Maybe the fact that his eyes are normal is the sign. He’s something else. Something Jane’s never encountered before. He’s fast, strong, a vampire. But looking into his eyes now, you’d never know. Maybe that's a good thing. Or a trick of some kind. Luring you into a false sense of security.

“Fine, what do we do now?”

Elijah thinks, “We need to find out more about the Laboinars, but first, I need you to meet someone. I think she may know more about magic than Kol.”

“Who?”

“My sister, Freya.”

_

Jane finds herself wondering exactly how many siblings Elijah has wondering around the city as they walk into what looks to be an abandoned building. Elijah steps in first which Jane is very grateful for, if he suddenly gets attacked she has no problem running for safety. The last two days have taught her to be nothing if not careful. Which is exactly why she’s more than happy to wait in the car while Elijah goes into the abandoned building Freya is currently living in.

Jane doesn’t even want to ask.                 

 “I wasn’t expecting you so soon brother.” Freya’s voice echoes down the hall, making herself known as she enters the hall. “Has something happened?”

“Yes, but not what you think. This hasn’t anything to do with Dalilah, this is something… personal.”

“Personal?”

“There’s a girl, she’s got a strange magic, something Kol has never seen before. I was hoping that your experience with magic might mean you’ve come across this before.”

“Strange magic?”

“Kol explains it as an aura, that there’s something strong about it, and then there was an event, she unknowingly used to magic, to kill, and protect herself. I’d like to learn more about it.” 

“Where is she?”

“Outside, I’ll bring her in.”

_

Jane’s drumming her fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song playing on the radio, humming along with the words, nodding her head back and forth.

A small knock on the door drew her attention. To her confusion when she looked out her window she didn’t see anything. When a tiny hand came up and knocked again she smiles, gently opening her door. A boy comes into view.

“Hello.” She smiles, looking around for their parent’s. “Are you lost?” This isn’t exactly a good area. Abandoned buildings, and shady alleyways.

“Don’t give Freya your blood.” The boy says, and Jane freezes.

“What?”

“Don’t give Freya your blood. She’ll lie about why she wants it.”

“Who are you?” Jane asks, noticing the boy’s eyes are slightly whited over. Somehow the voice in her head, while she was stuck in that foggy mindset before, comes to mind.

“Someone who wants to help.” Then the boy’s eyes are going back to normal, and he blinks confused, before stepping away and running down the ally. Jane watches in confusion, not noticing as Elijah steps out.

“Jane?”

She jumps a little, startled at his voice before taking a deep breath to calm herself.

“Hey.”

He holds his arm out for her. “Come on, time for you to meet Freya.”

Jane decides not to mention the kid. Not that she even knows how she would begin that conversation. If it’s the woman again, like Jane thinks it is, then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to heed her warning. The woman helped before when she was stuck in that room. She told her how to reign in the magic, and wake up from the spell. Jane’s not sure she could do it again on her own. But it was helpful nonetheless. Jane decided, that if Freya asked for her blood she simply wouldn’t give it.

It wouldn’t hurt to play it safe. Besides, even without the warning, someone asking for Jane’s blood would have been something she wasn’t willing to do for just anybody. This isn’t what she signed up for coming here.

First look at Freya, Jane thinks about how much she looks like Klaus more than Elijah. Maybe it’s just the hair. But related it all matches up.

Freya’s eyes do a small circle around her, much like Finn’s first look at Jane. Something about her aura around her. Jane feels self-conscious about it. Much like how she would feel if there were a pimple on her forehead. Something glaringly obvious to those around her. Yet she can’t see it.

“Oh, that is very strange.” Freya steps closer, looking deep in thought. “Her aura is large, which isn’t strange, witches usually have an aura that matches the strength of her power. Dalilah herself has a sizeable aura, but not this large. The strange part is the color, or I should say colors.”

“Color? Finn didn’t mention anything about color.”

“He probably doesn’t know this, but auras often speak to the type of power. They range in color, from pales to darks. Always one color, never changing, but hers… there are three. Closest in a circle around her it a light white, pure, but it fades to blue, which seems to be the dominating color. But on the edges, is a dark blue, a tiny ring of it. Never have I seen an aura have different shades.”

Freya turns around for a moment, grabbing a very old looking book. Flipping through a few pages she reads silently for a few seconds before looking up.

“You say she does magic without realizing it? To protect herself?”

“Yes.”

“Then there’s something I’d like to try. Elijah could you stand by me.”

He nods, taking his hand back from Jane’s and moving over to Freya’s side of the room, leaving Jane feeling nervous.

“Okay, Jane.” Freya starts, turning away she puts down her book and picks something up off the table, it looks like a ball made of wood. “I just want you to try and take this from me.”

“What?”

“Take the ball, but with magic.” 

Jane chuckles nervously. “I don’t know how to do that.”

“Just feel. With a magic as strong as yours commands aren’t necessary for simple spells like lifting. Just focus.”

That seems to be the one thing everyone keeps telling her. Focus, focus, focus. Sounds like advice Ms. Fran would give. That or she’d have a good poem to fit any situation. Jane would love to see her have one for this.

Jane focuses on the ball, remembering what Finn said before, about just imagining what you want to help. So, she imagined it floating out of Freya’s hands. Then the sparkling itch in her leg started again, and instead of ignoring it she embraced it, feeling it grow, suddenly the ball moved. Raising up slowly. Jane gasps stepping back, a smile growing on her face. And the ball drops right back down into Freya’s palm.

“Whoa.” She looks over to Elijah, who smiles in response to her gaze, before looking to Freya.

“What is the purpose of this test?”

“I needed to test a theory.” Freya responds. “Her aura changes while she does magic. Which I’ve only heard of once before, something way before mine and Dahlia’s time. Another witch with strong magic. A powerful blue aura. The spoke of her magic flowing like life. Ever changing and growing in strength. There’s not much information on it, there was much Dalilah didn’t know about it either. But I know it’s what started her craving for growth in magic. That a witch with that power could be invincible, I think that Jane is like this witch.”

“Do you think you could teach her to control her power?” Elijah asks.

“With the power that strong it's important to have control, but do you think this is really the time. You know who we face. She may already be here. Once she has Hope, and she will take her, if you aren’t prepared, she will come for me, and anyone who stood in her way. This isn’t the time to help stray witches.”

“Klaus and Hayley have things in order, getting the pack, and the vampires together. I have done what I could, if they need me I will be there. But while I can, I’d like to help Jane.”

Freya nods. “Her power will eventually exceed mine, but I can teach her where I can.”

“Thank you.” He sighs, stepping over back to Jane. Freya looks down a moment in thought.

“Actually Jane, could I get just a drop of your blood.”

“Why?” Jane asks, breathing slightly elevated. She almost thought Freya wouldn’t ask.

 “It would help me get a better hold on your power. I’d be more equipped to teach you, and I’d see how far your limits go.”

Jane doesn’t know if she believes it, but better safe than sorry. “No, I’m good. I kinda prefer my blood in my body rather than out.”

“It’d just be a little prick, I don’t need much.” Freya insists, holding up a small knife and a bowl. Jane steps back even though Freya hasn’t moved, she feels like flinching.

“I’d really rather not.”

“Maybe another day.” Elijah steps in when it looks like Freya is going to ask again. She nods, backing off, setting the bowl and knife back on the table.

“In that case, I need to continue working here, I’ll come find the two of you when I’m free. I assume you’ll be at the compound.”

“Yes, goodbye Freya.”

“Bye, brother.”

Jane and Elijah then leave, once they get to the van she feels like she can finally breathe again. “I feel like I’ve said this a lot these past few days, but what do we do now?”

“We wait.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna drop this here like it hasn't been months since I updated.
> 
> I'm sorry its taken forever, i kind of lost my muse for this story but i've got it back now.

“Wait, so you’re how old?”

Elijah smiles, playing with a stray thread loose on the jacket sleeve on his fabric coat. “You stop counting after a thousand years. Not to mention I’m from a time without calendars. Exact birth dates aren’t actually known for my siblings and I.”

“Wow.” Jane chews softly on the end of a twizzler. “So, you guys like used sundials, and invented the wheel?”

“The wheel was already invented before I was born.” Elijah laughs.

“What does it feel like to be that old? To know everyone around you hasn’t even come close to that age, or won’t experience the things you grew up with?”

“Well, I’m often surrounded by family, who grew up with me. I do my best to stay in touch with the times, the trends, keeping up with culture as it evolves as people do. But at their base, people are all the same. All craving more, always hungry. To be alive is to be unsatisfied.”

“And you consider yourself alive? Unsatisfied?”

“To be able to have anything you want with a touch of a hand or a look in someone’s eye, leads down a dark path. Either you grow sadistic, or bored wishing forever that there was more to take.”

“And are you bored? Or sadistic?”

“Neither. My family and I have been denied the things we truly want with this. Seeing immortality as a curse.”

“What is it that you’re denied?”

“To grow, age, start a family of my own… vampires cannot have children.”

“…Isn’t your brother a vampire? Is that not his kid?”

“Niklaus is a hybrid. Both a vampire and a werewolf. Making him the exception.”

“Oh.” Jane said lamely, not knowing what would best fit as a reply to someone telling you they feel cursed. “Maybe being surrounded by family makes it better? Instead of never knowing? Would you rather never have siblings? Or being able to have kids?”

“I’d rather not have to choose.”

Jane nods wondering quietly what it would be like to be denied children. She knows what it’s like to forget the past, not know if she has siblings or other relatives. She may or may not know the name of her parents. But it’s a different thing to be denied the past than a future.

Everyone has a past, everyone has a family, even if they died, someone birthed you, and there’s history there. But to be told you will always be stagnant, never truly moving forward in life. Never able to create something that’s a part of you… she can’t imagine.

She wants kids one day. At least she thinks she does. In her mind she’ll try taking care of a dog first to see if she can handle a living breathing being. If all goes well she might like one or two kids. So long as she finds the right guy to have them with.

Someone normal, who will take them to soccer games or something, someone who will rub her feet when she’s swollen and pregnant. Someone with a sense a humor.

His phone vibrates in his pocket and he pulls it out, checking the message. His face hardens the tension rolling off him. Jane could feel it.

“I’m sorry, I must return home it’s an emergency. Will you be all right on your own for a while?”

“Yeah.” Jane nods, Elijah picks up her hand, kissing it softly, and then he’s gone in a blur, car door pushed open and a wave of wind brushes against her face. She blinks smiling,

“It’s so cool that he can do that.”

_

“I’m out of time.” Kol whispers into Davina’s neck as they hugged. He’d started a painful coughing fit, that had turned to blood staining his teeth and hands as he begun to lose balance, she ran over and caught him before they hit the ground.

“No, no, no. We can fix this, I can fix it.”

“It’s a hex, you can’t break a hex.” He said between coughs.

“I will find a way, I promise.”

“I don’t think I’ll last the night, Love. I’m sorry.”

Davina sagged against him, sobbing. Not ready to lose him, but without a choice in the matter. She hated Finn, she hated the Mikaelsons. All they ever did was take and take from her. The one ounce of love in them, and it was now dying right before her eyes.

Rebekah and Klaus stand behind her, Elijah running into the compound.

“What’s going on?” He asks, straightening his jacket.

“It’s Kol.” Rebekah says. “He’s dying. I think we’re too late.”

“There must be something we can do. I’ll call Freya.” Elijah says, pulling his phone from his pocket dialing her number.

_

Jane parked the van at a grocery store and took a small walk. Such a lively place, normal, and domestic. Surely there’d be no werewolves, witches, or vampires here. The city was full of people, all minding their own business doing their own things. She wondered how many of these people knew of the supernatural. How many of them part of the drama and death.

Jane wondered where else this all spread. She had come from here. This city, her family once lived with werewolves. Part of the crescent pack. The Laboinares. A mirror of the store in front of her showed her faint reflection.

She didn’t look anything like Hayley. Thinking they could be related seemed strange. But it’s the least strange thing that’s happened in the last few days. She brings her hand up to her shoulder, trying to feel for the scar but her fingers don’t reach. A chuckle pushes from her lungs as it matches much of her past, everything there, just out of reach.

Briefly she considers giving this all up. To stop looking behind and only look ahead. But what does the future hold for her? She’ll get a job, maybe make one or two friends, get a dog, hopefully meet a nice guy and have two and a half kids. Dodge questions when anyone asks her about her family or childhood.

Just leave this big blank spot and hope she doesn’t regret it twenty years from now.

Jane turns from the window, continuing walking in no particular direction. She’s got nothing to do, no destination, no plan. Truly at a point in her life where anything is possible, and she has no idea what she wants.

She locks eyes with a tall man across the street. It’s accidental, she only glanced in that area, but he had been staring. Immediately she looks away, but her eyes are drawn back as she can practically feel the blatant staring from across the road. She turns away again and shakes her head.

Rude much?

Deciding to move on, she turns back, heading for Eli. Maybe going back to the house and waiting for Elijah there is best. She stops dead in her tracks as she almost collides with a woman who was standing right behind her.

“I’m sorry.” Jane says, stepping back.

“No need for apologies, my dear child.” The woman’s voice is familiar. Jane tilts her head.

“You- you’re the woman I heard in my head?”

“Yes.” She smiles. “And you listened I see, as Freya hasn’t taken your blood.”

The boy, Jane thinks, with the whited over eyes, speaking in an echoing voice and then he simply ran off.

“That was… how did you know she’d ask?”

“While Freya is smart and powerful, she’s quite predictable. In her desperation to get an upper hand on me, I knew she wouldn’t hold back a chance to tie herself to someone so powerful.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I know they’ve told you about your aura. You’ve demonstrated your magic. But you don’t yet understand it, you don’t control it. I can help you with that.”

“Why? Why help me? Who are you?” Jane looks the woman up and down and feels on edge, wishing that Elijah was here.

“I’m a witch without a coven. I’m alone, like you are. With magic like yours you will attract many enemies, and many who seek to use you. I know what it’s like to have something others crave, I also know what it’s like to be abandoned. I simply wanted to help you.”

It finally clicks in Jane’s head, the face familiar from her sketchbook. “You’re Dahlia.”

“Yes.” She nods. “But I am not the monster everyone paints me to be.”

Jane doesn’t believe her, not a single word. They’re all scared of you. They thought I was working for you. Something about you wanting to take Hope.”

“I simply want to complete my coven. Hope is my family, she is a firstborn, and therefore belongs to me. She wouldn’t be alive if I hadn’t used my magic to give my traitorous sister children. I do not want to hurt the child, just raise her. Is that so bad?”

“Coming from someone who wished her own parents raised her? Yeah.” Jane nods stiffly.

“Do you want to know why they didn’t raise you?”

Jane paused. “Of course, I do.”

“I could tell you.” Dahlia steps closer. “I will one day if you’d like. Although, it’s clear you don’t trust me right now. I will have to wait until I’ve earned your favor.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

“By showing you I’m not a monster. Just a witch. I can be good and bad, and right now. I’ll tell you how to save a life.”

_

“I wish you had brought this to me earlier, I’m afraid I don’t have any of the necessary potions or ingredients to fix this. It’s a powerful hex, and it’s already run much of it’s course in his system. He won’t last long enough for me to acquire what I need.” Freya sighed looking down at Kol’s shivering form. Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah, and Davina all crowed into the room along with them.

“Surely there’s something you can do. Maybe slow down its progress.” Rebekah said.

“I’m afraid with a hex that’s not possible. Spells like this are made to avoid slowing of its effect or curing.”

“How long does he have left?” Davina asks.

“I’m afraid he won’t last the night.” Freya whispers.

“All your talk of help, all your years with Dahlia, and you’ve got nothing?” Klaus asks. “I thought you were powerful, I thought you could be of use. A thousand years you managed to survive without vampire blood running through your veins, but you can’t give Kol, your brother, another day, a fighting chance?”

“I am not invincible!” She snaps. “Somethings are just out of my reach, I can’t help that. If I could, I would save him, I swear it!”

“All these promises and you haven’t made good on any of them.” Klaus counters.

“Niklaus, this is hardly the time.” Elijah says.

“When is the time!?” Klaus’ voice echoes off the stone walls. Everyone in the room stands in silence for a moment. Tensions high, and sadness dripping in its cracks. An early mourning with this devastating information, hurting Davina the most.

The sound of Jane’s steps as she ascends the stairs pulls their attention.

“Great, the other unhelpful witch arrives. I don’t have the patience for this, Elijah.” Klaus hisses.

Elijah moves and meets her in the doorway just before she enters. “Jane, now isn’t a good time.”

“It’s Kol, isn’t it?” She asks. “He’s sick… dying.”

“Yes.” Elijah nods. “How did you know?”

“It’s complicated.” She wrings her fingers together, trying to push away the nervous energy that fills her. “I think I can help him. If you let me.”

He steps to the side letting her in, and she doesn’t look up to meet the many eyes in the room that follow her. Her only focus is Kol, who lies on the bed, Davina lies next to him, tears shining her face.

Kol’s own face shines as well with sweat, and he shivers like he’s cold. It’s just as Dahlia said. Jane stands at the edge of the bed, looking him over with a hint of hesitance before she moves, resting her hands on his chest gently, scared she might hurt him. She focuses.

_Clear every thought from your mind. Ignore everything around you except for the flow of magic. You’ll know it when you feel it._

Jane closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, remembering Dahlias words. She can feel the heat of his skin though the shirt, and the small jerking movements he makes every few seconds, and the constant vibration of his shivering. Even the beat of his fast-paced heart. But beneath all of that there’s something else. Something alive. She can almost see it, despite her eyes being closed. It’s got its own warmth, and it moves in his veins with his blood. She tracks the movement with her hands on his chest, then she begins to hear it, a soft wave of music, without a beat or instrument. It sings, but in a language, she can’t understand. But she can follow it. She can feel it.

_Once you have a hold of it, take it in. Only you will know how, it will come to you._

Jane opens her eyes, and Davina gasps slightly, as she sees they now glow blue. Jane barely hears it, or the words exchanged by the Mikelsons behind her. Her only focus is that beautiful sound of magic. She leans down, face just above Kol’s and she used her thumb to part his lips, and she inhales deeply, in a reverse CPR. The sound of music grows as it leaves his body and enters her. A spark of pain in her lungs, washes away quickly by heat and euphoria.

Black veins crack up her skin, and then fade out just as quickly as they came. Kol gasps, eyes snapping open as Jane pulls away, her skin itches with the dancing of magic on it. Yet it’s not visible. She feels it running through her entire being, from her toes to her head.

Jane stumbles back, losing her balance too caught up in the hundreds of signals her body is sending to her brain, and doesn’t register the feeling of Elijah catch her in his arms.

“Kol.” Davina says, reaching for him as he sits up suddenly, taking in huge gasps of air. Freya rushes back over to the bed, and lays her hand on his shoulder, her eyebrows furrow and she looks to her siblings.

“The hex… it can’t feel it anymore. It’s gone.”

“It can’t just be gone can it?” Rebekah asked.

Freya turns to Jane, placing a hand on her shoulder as well. Concentrating for a moment. “I feel it in her now. But… it’s dwindling. Her body is… it’s getting rid of it on it’s own somehow. I don’t understand.”

“But Kol, the hex is gone now? He’ll live?” Davina asks.

Freya nods. “Yes. Without the hex his body will begin to heal.”

“I thought you said nothing could be done.” Klaus says.

“There was nothing I could do, and as far as I knew there was nothing else anyone else could do. Apparently, I was wrong.”

“Will Jane be okay?” Elijah asks, looking down at her in his arms. She’s not unconscious but her mind is clearly elsewhere. Eyes both shining blue, and she shivers slightly.

“Yes. The hex is leaving her. Soon all traces of it will be gone.”

“How is that even possible?” Davina asks. “For a hex to jump from one person to another? Kol said it was stuck to this body, that is locked him in, and wouldn’t let him jump.”

“Jane has a very old, very strange kind of magic that I’ve never encountered before. She can do spells just by thinking them. With barely any effort. She may not require positions or incantations to do magic. But this was no spell, spoken or otherwise, it was like she just sucked the magic out of him and absorbed it. That’s… that’s something I would have told you was impossible two minutes ago.” 

“This morning she was calming that she wasn’t a witch and now she walks in here knowing how to cure Kol’s hex?” Klaus says. “What changed?”

“I’ll have to ask her once the hex leaves her completely.”

“Good, that’s something I’d like to know.” Klaus says, leaving the room.

“I’m going to get Kol some water.” Rebekah says, leaving the room too.

“This could be good.” Freya whispers to Elijah.

“How so?”

“Dahlia knows my spells, my power, she raised me, taught me everything I know. But Jane, her magic is clearing much stronger than my own. Its unpredictability can be managed with control, but she could be what we need to stop Dahlia.”

“While I do believe she would be a great help, I don’t want to force her into a fight that is not her own. She’s only just entered this world. She is not ready.”

“Then we will get her ready.”

“Maybe.”


End file.
